The Marriage of the Sacred and the Wicked
by ephemereal
Summary: Wicked fic. Who said the end was written yet? COMPLETED:91904
1. Prologue

~AUTHOR'S NOTE~ (if you don't read this you will be *very* lost!): This fic is based mostly on the book Wicked but I'm changing the ending because I DON'T LIKE IT! Just to warn you, this is the kind of fic that starts out vague and gets more detailed. So if you're confused, don't despair, you'll pick more and more things up as the chapters go on. If you don't like the idea of me changing the ending…well, too bad. I don't really think this is going to be a problem but…yeah. This one's for me. So I welcome your comments, but please don't flame repeatedly just because you don't like the whole idea of the story. 

Those of you who have read my RENTfics call me Angst Queen, so just in case you've never read one of my stories before this is your fair warning. I like to be mean…no not mean…WICKED to my characters. 

I don't own any of the characters or places in Wicked. They are the property of L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire. 

Just one final note after all my long ramblings, a huge thanks to **Risa** (Arch of Wand), **Mo** (MaureentheDramaQueen), **Liv** (Bohemiancane04), and **Mari** (em0xstatic) for their encouragement and help getting me started. 

Prologue 

_Chaos.__ Chaos and destruction. _That seemed the inevitable future of the Emerald City.

In the one week since the Wizard's departure, an uprising had taken place. The city of gold and emeralds was being overrun by machinery, by metal, by pollution and death. 

The Clock of the Time Dragon sat in what had once been the Wizard's chamber. Grommetik had become second in command and was put in charge of the daily operations which took all "living" beings from the city and into work camps in the rotting wasteland that had once been Quadling Country. The scent of drying blood and the fear of innocent people filled the streets, along with the sharp metallic odor of the city's new mechanical ruling class.

This was the atmosphere that Boq stumbled into after four long days of traveling. He'd come home from a meeting of the local farmers to discuss the status of the current drought only to find Milla and the children gone without a trace. The animals had all been freed after what appeared to be an attack on the barn door with a battering ram, and there were spots of blood in the front yard. After hearing similar stories from the neighbors, along with the rumor that people were being secretly spirited away to the Emerald City as some sort of renegade retaliation for the secession of Munchkinland, Boq had thrown a few belongings in an old burlap sack and started on the long road toward the city. He'd hardly rested along the way and had made it there exhausted, but in record time. 

Boq tripped over what he at first assumed to be a piece of garbage, then gasped as he realized it was a cloak. Soaked in blood. He shuddered violently and pulled his own coat closer around his shoulders. Times were changing so quickly. Every time he went to bed, he found he was more and more afraid to drift off for fear of what might happen while he was asleep. He sat down on a dirty bench by the side of the road, trying not to think what he might be sitting **on, **and scrounged around in his sack for something to eat. His probing fingers were met with a slimy substance. Boq recoiled, wiping his fingers roughly on the ground. He opened the mouth of the sack and peered in, realizing an instant too late that he shouldn't inhale. He nostrils were filled with the pungent scent of rotting cheese and he gagged, swallowing bile and throwing the sack to one side. 

A giggle from somewhere over his left shoulder made Boq jump and blush furiously. He turned and looked, then blushed even harder, covering his face with his hands.

Glinda stood just a little off behind him and to the left, dressed in a pale blue gown that made her look nearly four times her size, surveying him with a barely concealed smirk. 

Boq felt his heart speed up just a little, despite the fact that he had banished any remaining threads of romantic interest in her all those years ago at Shiz.

The sack had landed on one of the back posts of the bench, caught by one corner, and was now flapping slightly in the gentle wind almost like a kind of perverse flag. 

"Well, Master Boq," Glinda said thoughtfully, "what an interesting way to make yourself noticed."

Boq laughed uneasily.

"How nice to see you again, Miss Glinda."

He stood and beckoned her over, and she sat delicately on the bench beside him. They sat side by side for a few moments in awkward silence, eyeing one another without actually looking. Finally, Boq cleared his throat.

"So. . .what brings you to the Emerald City? These are dangerous times, you know."

Her face fell at that and she looked away for a moment before answering.

"I guess I came to find out if. . .it's true. About Elphie."

Boq nodded gravely; he had the sudden urge to put his arm around her as much for her own comfort as for his own. The news had come as a surprise, erupting one morning as suddenly as the tornadoes had come. The Witch was dead. The Wizard was gone. All in the same night. All of Oz was in an uproar. Celebrations the likes of which had never been seen before. Then just as quickly, the fallout and the aftermath. A mass slaughter in the capital. People disappearing all over the country, being stolen away in the dead of night and put into the awful work camps. The news of the Witch had faded quickly, paling in comparison to the tiktok revolution. 

Boq gave Glinda another sideways glance, then gave in and lightly laid his arm across her thin shoulders. She flinched slightly, but didn't push him away. 

"Do you think she really was wicked?" Glinda asked finally.

Boq started to answer, but was cut off by the sounds of a scuffle and someone screaming a little way up the street. He was on his feet and running toward the noise before his mind had even fully realized what was happening. 

A few yards up the road, an old woman wrapped in a thick brown cloak was attempting to fight off what looked like a small crowd of homeless children. Boq felt a pang at the thought of his own family, gone now, perhaps for good. He shouted at them a little and waved his arms around and the children gave up, running into the shadows. Glinda caught up to Boq almost simultaneously and stepped in front of him, helping the old woman brush herself off.

She looked like some kind of gypsy, dressed in old gray rags. Boq thought he vaguely recognized her and the feeling sent chills up his spine, but he shook it off, dismissing it as lack of sleep and shock over recent events.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Glinda asked, ever the polite one.

The woman nodded, then pointed at Boq. 

"Mother Yackle came all this way to give you a message."

Boq jumped in surprise. _Yackle._ The name haunted him as images of that night at the Philosophy Club came flooding back. He shivered. 

"A message?" Glinda asked, giving Boq a strange look.

"You have a friend who needs your help."

"Where?" Glinda asked suspiciously. "And why should we trust you?"

The old woman cackled.

"In the Vinkus. You should trust Yackle because if you don't, your friend will die."

Boq narrowed his eyes at her.

"Who sent you?"

"Yackle answers to no one. But you could say she comes with Kumbricia's blessing."

Boq and Glinda turned to look at one another, and in that moment the old woman vanished. When they turned back, all they saw were late afternoon sunbeams reflecting off the spires of the Emerald palace. Neither said anything for a while, but they both knew in their hearts that there would be no refusing the cry for help.

Questions? Comments? The more reviews I get the faster I write…


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Okay, after posting the first chapter I realized that I likely _completely _confused anyone who hasn't read the book. So. On that note, here's just a little bit of vital information from it you need for that chapter and this one.

If you're one of my regular readers and you're wondering why I'm not updating as much as I have been, it's because my show is opening in three weeks, which means I no longer have a life. ^_^

**Tiktoks-**sentient machines

**The Clock of the Time Dragon-**a mysterious clock that supposedly shows people their destiny. Also the leader of the tiktok movement.

**The Vinkus-**Also known as Winkie Country (although that's a huge insult) it's the home of three tribes of people (yes, winkies): the Scrow, the Yunamata, and the Arjiki (of whom Fiyero was prince)

**Kumbricia- **The first witch, whom many believe to be the origin of evil in the world.

Thanks to **Liv** for suggesting the moldy cheese in the last chapter.

Chapter 1

Glinda peered out the window of the wagon over Boq's shoulder, making him shift uncomfortably. The land outside had turned greener since they'd gone through Kumbricia's pass, but it was still unnaturally dry. The droughts seemed to be spreading and were no longer only affecting Munchkinland, but all the rest of Oz as well. Glinda surveyed the rolling rows of tents that made up the Scrow camp and shuddered. She turned to Boq.

"Imagine living without running water."

Boq shrugged.

"I can imagine worse things."

She gave him a strange look.

"Like what?"

Boq rolled his eyes, wondering how he'd ever thought she was the only thing in the world capable of bringing him joy.

"Plenty of things."

They'd gotten on the caravan only a day after receiving the cryptic message from Yackle. Boq had remembered that Elphaba had told him of her secret stronghold in Kiamo Ko, and the entire incident was too suspicious for either of them to ignore. The journey had been long, but not particularly hard mainly due to the fact that the party was small and the caravan leader capable. The local tribes had been peaceful lately, though no one would admit that it was due to the large group of Gale Forcers patrolling the area. The Yunamata had let them pass without a meeting, but a delegation of Scrow had requested (the polite word for demanded) that Boq and Glinda along with the caravan leader go to their religious shrine and meet with the princess. 

Glinda looked at Boq tentatively.

"Are we actually going to do this?"

"What?"

"Meet with them."

"I don't see that we have a choice. . ."

She shifted uncomfortably and tried to the millionth time to beat the dust out of her enormous skirt. Boq coughed and waved his hands in front of his face in a fruitless attempt to dispel the cloud of dust Glinda had stirred up. He glared at her.

"Don't you have some kind of spell you could do for that instead?"

She glared back, crossed her arms over her chest and made a stubborn little "hmph" noise that was somewhere between a squeal and a grunt. 

"I most certainly would not use magic for such a trivial thing."

Boq shook his head, thinking for what seemed the millionth time that he would never understand women.

Just then, the caravan leader called for them. Glinda looked fearfully at Boq for a moment, then grabbed the one plump bag she'd been permitted to bring on the journey and made her way to the front of the wagon without so much as glancing behind her to see whether or not Boq was following. He muttered a little to himself, then followed after her.

The ground beneath the wagon was cracked and dry, a clear reminder of the desperate status of the country's water supply. Boq grimaced silently. The drought had made him think of his crops on the farm back home, which brought his mind back to the reason he'd gone to the Emerald City in the first place. Milla and the children. He felt a pang of guilt at abandoning his mission and yet at the same time he'd known it was hopeless. At least here they might be able to accomplish something, if the old gypsy had been telling the truth. But with the current times, the warning had simply been too ominous to ignore.

Boq jumped down from the mouth of the wagon, the impact of his feet on the bone dry earth sending up a fresh puff of dust. He cleared his throat, then turned and offered his hand to Glinda. She took it and stepped daintily down beside him, aided by the advantage of an extra four inches of height.

"There's our welcoming committee," Boq muttered to her dully.

The party of Scrow approached them slowly and stopped a respectful few yards away. There were three of them, dressed in loosely spun brown tunics, their faces and hands stained a sickly yellow by the ever-present dust. Only their large, searching brown eyes seemed alive. The tallest among them, the leader it seemed, tentatively approached Boq and Glinda. 

"Travelers," he greeted in a dry, scratchy voice that seemed perfectly suited to their surroundings, "Princess Nastoya of the Scrow requests your presence."

The party turned and began to walk away. Boq and Glinda followed, the caravan leader close behind. They nearly had to run to keep up as the three Scrow strode through the camp, and the small group reached the cave housing the Scrow shrine in mere minutes. The mouth of the cave was small and dark, closed off by a curtain woven from dried blades of grass. The caravan leader began to look jumpy, which only served to make Boq and Glinda nervous too. The three Scrow guides conferred for a few moments in a foreign tongue, then the leader turned back to them and pointed to the caravan leader. 

"You stay here. The Princess wishes to speak to those two only."

They entered the cave hesitantly, blinking in the sudden darkness. The cave was dark and dank, smelling of incense and the flames of ritual fires. The princess sat on a low-backed chair in the middle. She was small and withered, her face wrinkled and hardened by years of hardship and the merciless rays of the afternoon sun. She regarded them with the gaze of one wizened by more pain than any soul should ever have to bare. 

"Master Boq of Munchkinland, and Miss Glinda of the Arduennas, I do believe," she said with a quiet precision, causing them to jump slightly and then take a step closer to each other. "What is your purpose here?"

"To help a friend in need," Boq said boldly, then softer, "And to find my family…if they aren't…gone already."

"How did you know our names?" Glinda asked suspiciously.

The princess waved a hand dismissively.

"News gets to me. Even all the way out here. More news than you would think. I presume you know of the uprising in the Emerald City."

Boq nodded.

"The tragedy will not stop until the government has been restored. You yourselves are no longer safe there."

Boq looked alarmed.

"What are you saying?"

"There are ears everywhere Master Boq. You are both powerful, and that is known. If you go back, you will be next to disappear."

"So what do you suggest we **do**?" Glinda asked, her voice rising in pitch.

"It would not be the first time you have. . .stood up to the government, if I am not mistaken."

"You want us to found a resistance?" Boq asked incredulously.

"If you choose to call it that. Or you could call it a research project, as you did before. What's important is that your mission be the same. Namely to cause a change."

Boq looked at the ground.

"But before was different. Before…" he trailed off and sighed sadly.

The Princess nodded.

"That brings me to your purpose here. Come."

She turned and knocked six times on the wall of the cave behind her. They stared in amazement as the rock crumbled and fell away, revealing a secret room. They followed her to the door and looked in.

A figure lay deathly still on a bed in the middle of the room. The blankets had been arranged carefully and scented candles burned on altars all around the room. Boq felt his head begin to spin as he looked. Beside him, he heard Glinda gasp.

The figure's skin tone was decidedly green.

Review please!


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I'd just like to say thank you to **Liv, Risa**, **Jessica, Jan** and **Gypsy** for the reviews. You guys rock my world! 

Risa, you don't know this yet but I'm making you my official beta for this story because I end up asking you for help whether I intend to or not. So yeah. Thank you. ^_~

In answer to elvesmagic010 : Keep reading and find out. ::evil grin::

Chapter 2 

"Is she…" Glinda trailed off, unable to finish the question. Only moments ago, Elphaba's death had been an accepted truth among everyone in Oz. Now, after only a second's glance, there was hope. And fragile though it was, it was something.

"Dead?" the Princess asked.

Boq and Glinda both nodded.

The Princess shook her head.

"Not entirely. But it will take a stronger force than either you or I is capable of to bring her back." 

Boq looked at the ground, trying to make sense of everything he had just seen. It wasn't possible and yet…it had to be. He looked back up at the Princess, flinching under the scrutiny of her dark eyes.

"Can I talk to her?"

"Do what you like. Who knows, it may even do **her **some small measure of good."

Boq went over to the bed, trying to shake the fear that was tearing up his insides. He put the back of his hand to the back of Elphaba's pale cheek but she didn't stir. Her skin was hot, and Boq winced as he touched her. 

"Elphie?" he said softly, half hoping for a response. He felt a keen sense of disappointment when he didn't get one. Still, he didn't give up. "Elphie, it's me. Boq."

Glinda came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, making him turn.

"It's no use," he said dejectedly. He turned back to the Princess. "What did you bring us here for?"

"Because I think you are capable of making a change. I'm sure you've heard the rumors that the last Ozma is hidden in a cave."

Glinda nodded.

"You want us to find her?" asked Boq incredulously.

Nastoya nodded.

"It may be the only way. Order must be restored to the Emerald City, or the world as you know it will cease to exist. The tiktoks no longer need living beings to exist. They are stronger, they are smarter, and they have set out to dominate." She paused for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts. "There is a secret stronghold beneath Kiamo Ko. It has been unused for centuries and has been forgotten, I think, even by the Arjiki. I advise you to set up a dwelling for yourselves there and make it your base of operations."

"By ourselves?" asked Boq, outraged.

"I will send my daughter, Gerema, with you, along with whatever supplies you need."

"And what of Elphaba?" asked Glinda.

"She will go with you as well," answered Nastoya, cocking her head to one side and regarding them with an odd expression. Had she not been so old and withered, she would have looked nearly coy. "If she has any chance of recovering, it will be among old friends, not strangers she barely knows. Now come, let me show you to a place where you may spend the night. Your journey begins tomorrow and it will not be an easy one."

The Princess' prophecy had been an understatement. The journey to Kiamo Ko was nothing short of grueling, and they would later regard their arrival as nothing short of a miracle.

The caravan Glinda and Boq had been traveling with had left during their night with the Scrow, apparently taking fright at a ritual dance being performed in the camp. Being left with no mode of transportation, the travelers were forced to set out on foot, their few supplies and Elphaba's unconscious form being dragged tediously behind them in a sort of makeshift wagon by two very tired looking donkies.

Gerema was the youngest of the four, though she was not a child by far. She looked to Boq to be around thirty, but she acted as though she was carrying the burdens of a much older woman. She was taller than either Boq or Glinda, large-eyed and plump, though not fat. She was clothed in the typical brown linen robes of the Scrow and had long dark hair that fell loose down her back. She did not speak much, though she didn't appear to be shy. She knew the area well and was prone to wandering off during the night, sometimes for hours at a time.

The group had sighted what appeared to be a legion of Gale Forcers not three days out of the Scrow camp, forcing them to take a treacherous route up over the Great Kells to avoid being sighted by the troops. Finally, after eight day of struggling over the steep mountains, they descended into the Thousand Year Grasslands below.

The vibrant green blades of grass grew taller than they were, and the donkies began to snort and paw nervously. Gerema looked at Boq hesitantly.

"Strange animals live here," she said, "We have no defenses if we should encounter one."

Boq turned and looked at Glinda for a moment, then looked back at Gerema.

"Do we have another choice?" he asked.

She shook her head and Boq's shoulders sagged in resignation. 

"Then I guess we'll have to risk it."

It took all three of them pushing and tugging to coax the panicked donkies into the bright, garish forest of grass. It was only late morning, but already the sun beat mercilessly down on them, turning their arms and the backs of their necks the color of a Quadling ruby. The grass was tall enough to completely obscure their view and get it gave no shade or protection. The air was thick with dust and breathing became increasingly painful. Finally, after nearly an hour, they had to stop.

Boq sighed loudly and flopped down on his stomach, rubbing his hands over his face. Glinda gave him a disapproving look, then fanned herself delicately. Gerema stood next to the donkies, whispering something in their small pointed ears.

"Are we lost?" asked Boq finally.

Gerema narrowed her eyes at him.

"I am not sure. I know which direction we are headed, but I believe we should have reached Kiamo Ko by now."

"So then you don't know," said Glinda, a hint of contempt in her voice.

Gerema shrugged.

"I do know that we are being followed," she said at last, making them all start.

"By what?" asked Boq.

"Again, I am not sure. Something large and intelligent. A man I think."

"A Gale Forcer?"

"Gale Forcers do not come here. Even they are not brave enough."

A large twig cracked somewhere nearby. The donkies shrieked and ran, breaking their harnesses. Gerema turned and ran after them, Glinda close on her heels. Boq  stayed standing a moment too long and lost sight of them in the grass. Suddenly the afternoon air seemed thick and foreboding, the silence too still. Boq stood torn, wanting to follow but afraid to leave Elphaba unprotected. 

He heard movement behind him again and turned, a moment too late. A shriek in the distance sent his adrenaline levels soaring and Boq started to run. The noises became louder now and closer. He continued running, afraid to look behind him. The grass whizzed by on either side, a stinging green blur, slicing his unprotected arms with its razor sharp sides. The noises changed direction suddenly and Boq turned and ran the other way.

He grunted with surprise as he suddenly collided with another being, something solid among the fragile, bending grass. For a moment he heard the other's surprise, felt the warmth of foreign flesh in contact with his own, and then he fell, headlong to the ground. 

Boq sat up just in time to see the figure disappearing into the grass. He caught sight of a dark-skinned hand, harsh against the bright green of the grass, and a flash of blue diamonds.

Review…or I'll send the tiktoks after you!


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note: This chapter was determined not to be written…however, I have outsmarted it. I think. The end of that last chapter was a test to see whether or not my readers had read the book…if you knew who was following the group you passed. If not, you have been sadly deprived. Anyway, I finally managed to get my two main characters to talk to me (and each other) so the next few chapters should pick up a lot. And…yeah…go read. And review….

Chapter 3

Fiyero stopped between two particularly thick blades of grass and stood stooped over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He wasn't sure quite why he was running away, but he certainly hadn't expected to encounter his old friends out in the middle of the grasslands. He'd been tracking them for several days now from afar, almost certain that he was following a reconnaissance part of Gale Forcers.

There was a loud crashing noise, and Boq stumbled into the clearing, nearly falling flat on his face. Fiyero resisted the urge to laugh at him, watching silently as Boq stood gaping.

"You-you're dead," said Boq finally, "and so's Elphie. And now you're both…not…" He threw his hands up helplessly, "Next thing I know they'll be telling me *nobody* really dies and my grandmother's just hiding somewhere."

"I wouldn't be all that certain of anything, Master Boq." Replied Fiyero, "If there's one thing I've learned these past few years it's that anything which first appears true is most likely a deception."

Boq continued to stare. Glinda entered the clearing a moment later, followed by a native girl Fiyero didn't recognize. Behind them came two donkies, once again hitched to the wagon. Glinda stopped short, her face caught in an expression of surprise much like Boq's.

"Master Fiyero…" she said finally.

"So you are what has caused us so much panic," said Gerema sourly.

Fiyero blushed slightly.

"I apologize. I hadn't intended to make such an entrance."

Glinda giggled suddenly, and they all turned and looked at her questioningly.

"Memorable entrances would seem to be your specialty," she replied," But where have you been all these years we thought you dead?"

"Serving our Wonderful Wizard on his wonderful mission," said Fiyero sarcastically, "But I don't want to tell that story now, and this is not the place for it. Where are you headed?"

"To the fort supposedly under Kiamo Ko," said Boq, snapping out of his stupor. "If such a place exists."

Fiyero nodded.

"It does. Who told you of it?"

"My mother," said Gerema, "Princess Nastoya, of the Scrow."

"A wise leader," he replied, and dipped his head respectfully, though he did not identify himself. He nodded to the group. "Come, I'll show you a better way."

The tunnels below Kiamo Ko were old, dusty, and partially collapsed, but still remarkably preserved after nearly a hundred years of disuse. They lit the ancient torches in the wall sconces as they went with little balls of flame Glinda magicked for them. The long, winding corridor ended at a heavy wooden door that swung open with a creak, revealing several rooms hollowed out of the rock.

"We're supposed to **live **here?" Glinda asked incredulously, running her fingers along one of the walls. Her hand came away black with dust. She wrinkled her nose.

Fiyero shook his head at her.

"Considering your other options…"

"Which are?" Glinda snapped.

"Staying in the Emerald City and getting captured by the tiktoks. Or worse, the Gale Forcers. I think they might be working together now."

Glinda waved a hand dismissively.

"I don't understand why everyone thinks we're about to be captured. What would they want with us?"

Fiyero glared at her.

"First there is the fact that the tiktoks are slowly eliminating all living beings from their world. Then there is the fact that you are both powerful and well-known. And now you have Elphaba with you, which puts you in considerable danger even if **they** do not yet know of her presence here. Speaking of which, what happened to her, and what do you plan to do?"

Glinda just stared at him for a moment, slightly taken aback by his sudden fervor. Fiyero had always been rather quiet and was even more so since he had reappeared. 

"We're not really sure what happened…" said Boq, making them all jump slightly, "Something to do with that Dorothy Gale who blew in after that awful storm. She killed Nessarose and according to the Wizard, Elphie too."

Fiyero nodded slowly. He too had heard the rumors, none of which made any sense.

"How did you find her?" he asked finally.

"We…we were given a message by…someone that we had a friend in need. So we came out here and we met up with the Scrow and Nastoya and…well, here we are."

They stood in silence for a few moments before Gerema finally spoke.

"It's nearly nightfall outside. We should make provisions and rest."

The group split to explore the remainder of the underground stronghold, leaving Fiyero and the unconscious Elphaba alone together. He looked at her for a moment, then took a pile of blankets off the stack of supplies they'd brought down from above and tucked them around her.

Fiyero knelt beside her on the cold stone floor and brushed the back of his hand across her forehead. Her skin felt like it was on fire and her face was flushed. He ran his hand down her arm, then had to turn away as the tears started to fall. He cried until he was too exhausted to cry anymore, then wiped his face on the edge of an old blanket and laid down beside Elphaba, wrapping his arms around her wasted body.

Ugh okay so it still wouldn't do what I wanted it to…be nice and review anyway please. You'll like the next chapter better, I promise.


	5. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay…I'm sure anyone reading this already knows but there have been major technical problems with ff.net lately and I didn't want to post until that was all fixed. Enjoy. =P

Chapter 4

"Slowly…slowly, a little more to your left…No, not that left, the other left!"

"You said before that there was only *one* left and right. If the opposite way is right, then where is this 'other left'?"

Boq suppressed a sigh and shook his head at Gerema.

"I meant right…it was a figure of speech."

Earlier that morning they'd discovered a flight of stairs leading up to a trapdoor in the in the cellar of Kiamo Ko, and they were currently in the process of moving furniture from the abandoned castle to their subterranean stronghold. So far, Gerema and Fiyero were proving themselves to be less than adept at teamwork, and Boq's directing skills were doing little to aid the tricky business of maneuvering the heavy wood furniture down the narrow stone staircase.

"If someone were to come in search of us," mused Gerema, setting down her end of the mattress they'd been moving and leaving Fiyero grunting under the full weight of the thing, "Would it not be rather obvious that someone had moved everything out?"

Neither man had an answer for her, and Boq began to pace uneasily. He'd always been rather claustrophobic, and hated knowing that they were hundreds of feet underground, who knew how many tons of earth packed over their heads. The torches provided little light, and even with the trapdoor open the air circulation was slow, giving the place a dank, clammy feel to it.

"I don't know," said Fiyero finally, "It would depend on their knowledge of Kiamo Ko, prior to us moving everything out." He set the mattress down with a heavy thud and rubbed his hands together, sending a little puff of dust into the air. "And even if they did realize that things were missing, there's nothing to lead them down here. They have no reason to believe anything was taken by a group of renegades running from the government."

Boq's frown deepened and he stopped pacing to lean heavily against the stone wall of the room.

"Is that what we are now?"

Fiyero shrugged, nonplussed by Boq's distress.

"You know how the tiktoks think. If you don't support them, you're against them. So at least in their eyes we are."

"Which brings us to the real question at hand," said Gerema, sitting down on the newly moved mattress. It creaked loudly under her weight, as though offended by her presence.

"Which is?" Boq prompted.

"How do five people and two donkies hope to overthrow a government," she said matter of factly as though it were the simplest thing imaginable.

Boq's eyes widened.

"You want us to overthrow the tiktoks?" he asked incredulously. "Us. By ourselves."

"My mother says it is the only way. She knows, for she is very wise."

Boq snorted in disbelief.

"Did she happen to reveal the wise secret of how we're supposed to do this?"

Gerema shook her head, and Boq covered his face with his hands in total despair. He'd started this journey in hopes of finding his family and now not only had he failed to accomplish that goal, but he was stuck underground in the middle of the Vinkus indefinitely with a couple of political zealots.

"I may be able to rally what's left of the Arjiki," said Fiyero slowly, but Gerema only shook her head.

"That would mean revealing your presence here. That is a risk we cannot afford to take."

Fiyero nodded resignedly, but Boq felt his temper begin to rise.

"Who put you in charge?" he snapped suddenly, surprising even himself. "We know nothing about your 'wise mother' or her motives. We have no reason to trust you." He turned to Fiyero. "Or you for that matter. For all I know, you're both serving the Gale Force and this is all a ploy to get us to slowly suffocate ourselves out here!"

"This isn't a time for us to turn on one another," said Fiyero quietly, "Please calm down, Boq. I know this isn't the best of circumstances, but—"

Boq started to cut him off, but they were both interrupted by Glinda's shrill voice, echoing through the empty stone tunnels.

"Boq! Fiyero! Come quickly!"

The argument immediately forgotten, Boq and Fiyero turned and dashed out of the room, leaving Gerema behind, still perched on the edge of the mattress. 

They found Glinda seated by the side of Elphaba's makeshift bed, a large book in her hands and an expression of utter shock on her face.

"What?" asked Boq in a panic, "What is it?"

Glinda pointed to Elphaba, who was stirring slightly, muttering something inaudible. Boq immediately fell to his knees beside the bed, and it took all the self-restraint Fiyero could muster to keep himself from doing the same.

_The don't__ know,_ he reminded himself silently. Instead, he turned to Glinda.

"What woke her?" he asked in a voice trembling with fragile hope.

Glinda frowned slightly and indicated the book on her lap.

"I found this among the provisions the Scrow gave us. It looks to be a book of spells—mind you, I can't understand it, and one of the pages was marked and so I thought—well, why not?"

"Elphie," Boq said hopefully, shaking her arm lightly.

Her eyelids fluttered slightly, and she squinted at them with the pained gaze of one who has not seen light in far too long. With great effort she turned her head to the side, her eyes widening slightly when she saw Fiyero.

"I'm dead," she murmured, more to herself than to the others, "I'm dead and this is some cruel trick of hell or wherever nonbelievers go."

Fiyero knelt beside her and took her hand between both of his, unable to resist any longer. She shivered at his touch.

"No, you're not," Fiyero said firmly, "You're safe now, Elphie, and you're going to get better."

As though somehow sensing their need for privacy, Glinda took Boq by the elbow and led him away.

Fiyero noticed that Elphaba was shivering in the musty air and he moved to touch her, but she recoiled from him so violently that he was stopped in the midst of reaching for her.

"No," she said again, louder this time, "You're not here."

"Elphie, you're delirious."

"You're dead. I killed you." Thought it was still weak, her voice had a steel edge to it and it pierced Fiyero's heart like a dagger. The haunted look in her eyes sent a wave of guilt through him so intense that he had to run from the room, from the tunnels, up into the world of grass above, and he did not return for several hours. 

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	6. Chapter 5

Author's Note: In answer to some of my reviewers: (yay for reviews being up again!)

lady_Aryah: Yes, I realize my chapters are short…I'm going to make them longer, but right now I'm in the final stages of rehearsal for a show that's opening in 10 days. (wow, scary thought) So after that's over, I'll try to work on length. Oh, and thank you for your reviews. ^_~

gyps: I know that the end of that last chapter could be viewed as out of character, but keep in mind that there's a fifteen year time gap here, and the experiences of all the characters during that fifteen years are going to make them somewhat different. Thanks for the feedback.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO REVIEWED! I love you all.

Chapter 5

"What are we going to do?" asked Boq dejectedly, leaning back against the wall and letting himself slide down until he was sitting on the floor.

Glinda peered down at him from her seat on the couch they'd brought down, looking only half interested.

"About what?" she asked flatly.

Boq threw out his hands in a broad sweeping gesture.

"This. Everything."

It had been raining non-stop for the past two days, the heavy drops making a muffled pattering noise that echoed through the stone tunnels. Although there had been no trouble so far, everyone was deeply concerned over the possibility of the water causing the tunnels to collapse, or at the very least flood and drown them all.

"What is 'everything'?" Glinda asked irritably.

Boq glared back at her. The group had quickly discovered over the past few days that they didn't do well in close quarters with one another.

"That wasn't very nice, said Boq meanly, "I thought you were always 'good.'"

She sighed and put down the book she'd been examining. It was the same book of spells she'd found in the supplies the day Elphaba had awoken and since then, Glinda had been haunted by the fact that she couldn't read any of it.

"What specifically?" she asked, her tone softer this time.

" I don't even know anymore…Food…water…What are we going to do when we run out of the supplies the Scrow gave us? I mean, what we have can't last longer than a week at the most."

Glinda sighed again and looked down at Boq, shaking her head hopelessly.

"I don't know. Maybe Gerema…or Fiyero…they have to know more than we do."

Boq nodded, still looking at the dirty stone floor.

"But even if they do know of ways for us to get supplies…are we just going to live here indefinitely?"

Glinda shrugged.

"I don't know who to believe. I don't think we have even a ghost of a chance at overthrowing the tiktoks, but I don't know whether to think it's safe to go back or not."

Boq ran his fingers through his hair, making the short curls stick up at odd angles. 

"Do you ever feel like everything is completely hopeless?" he asked quietly.

Glinda frowned at him before she answered.

"No. I've always thought that as long as you're still alive, there's hope."

Boq looked up suddenly at that and smiled.

"What?" asked Glinda.

"Nothing…just…I never thought *you* of all people would say something …amazing…like that."

Fiyero entered the room cautiously, not wanting to cause a repeat of the explosion he'd overheard earlier when Glinda had said or done some horribly wrong thing. Elphaba was awake and sitting on the edge of the bed, attempting to smooth out her long, snarled black hair with a pitifully small, fragile looking comb that he recognized as Glinda's. She was clothed in one of the coarse white cotton robes the Scrow had given them, and Fiyero realized with a little surprise that he'd only ever seen her wearing brown or black. The white made her look almost innocent, he thought; had it not been for the lines of worry that had begun to permanently crease her forehead, she would have looked quite young.

"Elphie," he said finally, drawing her attention to himself, but then he could think of nothing more to say, so he simply went over and sat down beside her on the bed. He tried to put an arm around her but she pushed him roughly away.

"No," she said firmly, and turned her head away from him, refusing to acknowledge him any further.

Fiyero took a deep breath, hurt by her rejection, but not altogether surprised by it. He watched her instead, silently daring her to look him in the eye. She didn't.

"Elphie, why?" he tried again, "This isn't like you."

She still didn't turn but instead began attacking her hair with a fresh vigor.

"It's been fifteen years, Fiyero, you have no idea what I am or am not like."

He sighed, realizing that he wouldn't get anywhere by arguing with her. He never had been able to win. The comb caught in a particularly large tangle, and Elphaba hissed softly with pain, her hands stopping mid-stroke. Fiyero closed his hands over hers and gently took the comb from her.

"Here, let me."

She glared venomously at him, then turned her back, flinging her long hair over her shoulders in one sharp movement. Fiyero gathered her hair into his hands and gently began working the comb through it, swallowing hard against the lump that had formed in his throat. They stayed like that for nearly an hour.

Finally, he set the comb down on the bed and slowly ran his fingers through her hair, letting his hands come to rest on her shoulders. She flinched visibly but didn't say anything and didn't pull away. 

"Open up," he said softly, easing his fingers over her shoulders, "Unlock the gate. Let the drawbridge down. At least for a while."

"So poetic," she said sarcastically, but her voice sounded tired and sad, lacking its usual crystalline edge. She peered at him over her shoulder, her eyes half open, earthy half-moons cut through with shards of emeralds. "Where have you been all this time?" she asked at last, "The others said you wouldn't tell them."

"In the Quadling ruby mines," said Fiyero, and Elphaba's eyebrows shot up.

He was sorry the instant he'd said it, for he hadn't meant to tell her. He knew it would only maker her suffer more guilt than she already had, and yet he'd never been able to lie to her.

"Elphie, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you that night. I was stupid and I more than paid the price. Just please, please don't blame yourself."

Elphaba pulled out of his grasp and turned around to face him. For a moment Fiyero thought she was going to say something but then she leaned toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her tightly and kissed her neck.

"I love you," said Fiyero, his voice tight with emotion. 

Elphaba stiffened suddenly, her body going rigid against his, and she shoved him away as though he'd burned her. She stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest.

"No," she said harshly, "No, **no**, I won't let you!"

"Elphie—"

"Everything I touch dies."

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	7. Chapter 6

Author's Note: This will be my last update for at least a week. I'll be in shows all week, and with school there's just no way I'm going to be able to write/post during the run of my show. So enjoy, leave me your thoughts and I'll try to have something up next weekend.

**Twisty-treat: **In the book Wicked, Boq never becomes the tinman and Fiyero never becomes the Scarecrow. They are both still themselves. As for what's happened to them…keep reading and find out!

Much thanks to **Liv **for helping me organize my insane thoughts regarding this chapter.

Chapter 6

Gerema sat at the top of the staircase that led down into the tunnels and stared out the window of one of the towers of Kiamo Ko. The land surrounding the castle looked like an ocean of green in every direction. Tall, sharp brown mountains rose on the horizon, hinting of the desert beyond. The rain had stopped during the night, giving way to unbearably hot weather that sent shimmering mirages into the air, as though the ground itself was boiling under the relentless rays of the afternoon sun. In the room below, she could hear Boq and Glinda talking, the latter prattling on about inconsequential subjects, as though filling up her mind with trivialities would erase the reality of the world.

_"Did you notice how very much time he's been spending with her?" Glinda's voice was a high-pitched whisper, filled with school-girl glee at sharing gossip. "I mean, she won't let him of course, but he keeps trying. I never had any idea…I knew he was heartbroken when she left Shiz, but I never made the connection…I'd always assumed there was something he didn't tell us, something…They're both so secretive, really, who ever would have guessed…" She trailed off and looked expectantly at Boq._

_"Who?" asked Boq, who hadn't been paying any attention. Instead, he'd been studying a map that had suddenly appeared in the mysterious book that morning. It appeared to be of the Vinkus, strangely so, since the book was, to their best knowledge, from another country, if not another world. _

_"Fiyero!" said Glinda, outraged that Boq hadn't been listening to her. "You honestly haven't noticed?"_

Gerema stood up and walked across the room, searching through the debris in the tower room. It looked like the scene of a mini disaster. There were torn, watermarked sheets of paper scattered all over the floor, discolored in some sort of powdery black substance. Burn marks covered the floor in the middle of the room and up one wall, and there was a strong smell of mildew. And something else. Something dark and mysterious that she couldn't quite identify.

_"Oh." said Boq. "Hm. Where is he?"_

_"I have no idea. He left a little while ago. Went out somewhere. After she yelled at him again. Not yelled even. Screamed, really." Glinda picked a piece of dirt off her skirt, lavender today, and examined it closely as though it held some kind of special interest to her. Then she turned and glared at Boq, who was still not following. "Well? Have you noticed?"_

_"I don't know…I don't notice things like that."_

The lightly blowing wind made the hinges on the shutter creak, and Gerema turned and walked to the window to close it. Just as she snapped the catch shut, something caught her eye. A small band of figures was just visible on the horizon, their silhouettes no bigger than ants. The sight of them made her blood run cold. She watched them for a moment longer, to verify that they were heading in the direction of Kiamo Ko, then turned back to the stairs down into the tunnel. She walked noisily, trying to alert Boq and Glinda to her presence ahead of time. She didn't feel right simply walking into the middle of their conversation.

Glinda jumped up as Gerema entered the room, and Boq looked up, his brows knitted in suspicion. 

"I have information for you," said Gerema, unperturbed by their reaction.

"Well?" prompted Glinda.

"There is a party of beings headed our way."

Boq stiffened and Glinda gasped and grabbed onto his arm as though she were about to faint.

"Gale Forcers?" asked Boq.

Gerema shrugged.

"I do not know."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"That is up to you." She turned to leave, but Boq went after her, stopping her with a hand on her arm.

"Now wait just a minute. You can't just abandon us like that. You're supposed to be here to _help_." He drew himself up to his full height, which was still a good deal shorter than Gerema, and glared at her. "For all we know, you gave them our location."

"That would do me no good, as they terrorize my people the same way they do yours."

"But we know nothing about you!" Boq shouted. Glinda came up behind him, put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but Boq simply shrugged her off. "My family is missing somewhere, tortured, dead, I don't know! I'm out here with a couple of anarchists, we have no water, almost no food, we're trapped down here with a party of potentially hostile people coming toward us and you expect me to calm down!" He walked over to one of the chairs and sat down heavily, his head in his hands, crying silently.

"He's right, you know."

The voice made them all jump, then turn. Elphaba was standing in the doorway, regarding them with a faintly amused look. 

"What?" Glinda asked, slightly unnerved by Elphaba's sudden appearance.

"We don't know anything about her. However, she's helped us this far. She would have little reason to turn on us now."

Boq got to his feet and went over to her. He moved to embrace her, but she stepped backward, and he backed off, embarrassed.

"Elphie…what…there's a party of…we don't know what coming this way."

Elphaba nodded, her face expressionless.

"As long as we remain invisible, they are not threat to us. Therefore we must be sure to maintain our cover."

Fiyero sat in the middle of the moth eaten old canopy bed and massaged his temples. He hadn't intended to return to Kiamo Ko, he'd vowed to stay in the tunnels where it was safe and shut out the past as he had for the last fifteen years. Gale Force work camps did wonders for one's emotions. If nothing else, intense physical pain left no energy for guilt or sadness. He'd learned to live in a state of numbness only weeks after Sarima's death.

He felt a pang of guilt at the memory, and at those that surrounded him. He hadn't loved her, he told himself, forced himself to believe. And yet, knowing that he'd spent what would have been their last year together away tore at his heart. He didn't regret his time with Elphaba, wouldn't give it up for the world, and yet it was the one thing standing in the way of peace for him. He closed his eyes as images swam up from the depths of memory.

_"The children…Fiyero, the children. They…taken…" Sarima's voice cracked, and her eyes filled with tears of pain. _

_She'd been dragged, thrown, into his tent in the camp, a last gesture of torture from the Gale Force. She had been beaten nearly to death, watched her children die. Both of her eyes were purple and swollen, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. One arm hung at an unnatural angle, and her breathing was labored, every mouthful of air a fresh wave of agony. _

_Fiyero wrapped his arms around her broken body, tears stinging his eyes, willing her to survive. _

_"Sarima, what happened?"_

_"There was…a woman…a Witch, she said…said she killed you…she wanted to tell me…" Sarima coughed roughly, gasping with the effort of speaking. "The soldiers came…took us away…they wanted…wanted…" Her eyes fell closed, her body limp in his arms._

_Fiyero leaned down and kissed her gently, as though he could bring her back. She didn't stir. _

_"Sarima…" he choked, his throat unbearably tight. But the tears didn't come, wouldn't come, and that was the worst of all._

Fiyero opened his eyes suddenly and lurched to his feet, shaking his head at the remnants of the memory. He turned to leave, then something caught his eye. A flash of color amidst the gloom. He went over to it, picked it up, catching his breath. It was the scrap of a red scarf, one of the ones he'd sent Sarima during his time in the Emerald City. Fiyero buried his face in it as the tears came at last.

"Sarima…" he gasped, "Forgive me."

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	8. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Wow it's been a long time. Just so everyone knows…my show SOLD OUT and was completely AWESOME! So yeah…I'm back now…and I'm playing catch-up for a while so expect a RENT update sometime in the next few days.

Chapter 7:

"I won't let you go out there!" squawked Glinda, "You know it's not safe!"

Boq looked back and forth between her and Gerema, confused. It was nearly night and the previous day's rain had brought with it a spell of alarmingly cold weather. Gerema had proposed that she and Boq should go out and gather firewood, despite the fact that the party of beings they'd seen before had set up camp on a ridge close enough that their campfires could be seen from the tower. 

"Glinda…" said Boq tentatively, "we need some way of heating this place or we're all going to freeze. We need a lot more than heat for that matter but…" he shrugged helplessly. 

Gerema tugged impatiently on Boq's arm.

"Come. Before we lose all of the light."

Boq shrugged one last time at Glinda and stumbled out the door behind Gerema who was now pulling him by his shirtsleeve.

Glinda sighed and sat down on one of the hard, straight-backed chairs, smoothed her enormous skirt, and picked up the large spell book from the floor beside her. She'd been working to decipher it for nearly four days and had still made no progress. Glinda squinted at the strange looking characters written on the old, yellowed pages until they blurred before her eyes, but they made no more sense than they had before.

"Don't bother. You won't be able to read it."

Glinda jumped, then took a deep breath and ran one hand over her short blonde curls.

"Elphie, you've got to stop sneaking up on people like that. It really isn't healthy."

"Neither is ruining your eyes trying to wrap that pretty little mind of yours around what's in that book," retorted Elphaba, walking around to stand just over Glinda's shoulder.

Glinda snorted daintily and attempted to look as though she was gaining valuable knowledge from the volume on her lap. Elphaba glared at the side of her head as though attempting to set it on fire. Finally, Glinda gave up and shut the book, ignoring Elphaba's triumphant laugh.

Glinda sighed.

"Fine. I know why you're here. You want to continue your verbal abuse where you left off."

Elphaba took a long breath and ran a hand over her long hair in an uncharacteristically self-conscious gesture.

"I don't…know what to say."

"You could start by saying you're sorry," said Glinda in her most condescending voice.

"Me?" asked Elphaba incredulously, "I have nothing to apologize for."

Glinda set the book down and stood up, drawing herself up to her full height. She took a deep breath, preparing a sharp retort, but none came. 

"Fine," said Glinda again, "just fine. You want an apology over those shoes? I'm sorry. All right? Happy? It's not enough for me to come all the way out here for you, you just have to bring up the past again."

Elphaba looked slightly taken aback at the outburst. She pressed a hand to her temples and leaned against the wall, and Glinda noticed suddenly how weak she still looked. 

"Elphie…I'm sorry," she repeated, a hint of tears in her voice. She went over and embraced Elphaba, but she pushed Glinda away.

"What?" Glinda asked, hurt. "Was that not enough for you?"

Elphaba shook her head, a look of sheer exhaustion coming over her.

"No…no, it was. It's just…I don't deserve you…any of you. I—"

She stopped herself and went over to sit on the couch. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. Glinda stood staring for a moment in awkward silence, not daring to do anything to worsen the situation. At last she turned and walked away, miserable.

It was dark outside when Fiyero stole back down the steps into the tunnels, weak from crying. Boq and Gerema had managed to gather enough wood to start a fire in the ancient stone fireplace they'd found in the main room. The bone-dry timber had ignited immediately and the flames were still roaring, casting a strange glow across the room. Fiyero picked up a package of very stale wheat crackers, all that remained of their food supply. He bit into one half-heartedly, coughed, and put the package aside. He was halfway across the room before he noticed Elphaba sitting on the couch, staring intently into the flames. She was so still that for a moment he thought he'd imagined her there, but he dismissed the notion as ridiculous. He hesitated to approach her, was already too exhausted to face another conflict, but he wasn't ready to go to bed and there was nowhere else to go.

"May I sit?" he asked softly. For a moment he thought she hadn't heard, but then she turned, her eyes shimmering in the firelight, and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Fiyero sat, but far away from her on the couch, still stinging with guilt. He was surprised when Elphaba moved closer to him. She touched his shoulder and he pulled away, torn.

"You disappeared today," said Elphaba softly. "you still haven't come back. Not really."

"I…had something I needed to take care of."

Elphaba nodded.

"I know. I don't like it when you disappear."

She met his gaze full on for the first time since she'd been awake, and Fiyero felt his heart skip a beat. He reached out and gently cupped her cheek in his hand, amazed, as always, at how soft and fragile her skin felt beneath the hard calluses on his fingers. Elphaba leaned in so that her shoulder was pressed against his. He slid his hand down her neck, her shoulder, her arm, finally taking her hand.

"Talk," prompted Fiyero, still fighting a pang of guilt that made his stomach churn. He wanted her with every fiber of his being, and yet it seemed wrong, even after eight years, not to mourn properly, especially after being back in his home for the first time in over a decade. 

"Words are the deadliest weapon of them all," Elphaba said enigmatically. She laced her fingers through his and pulled his hand to her lips, kissing it gently. 

"I've also heard it said that words can be the most empowering ally," said Fiyero, pulling his hand back, still torn.

Elphaba leaned down and brushed her lips against his, lightly at first, then harder, desperate, leaving them both reeling. Fiyero wrenched away from her and stood up, overwhelmed with warring emotions. He wanted more than anything just to be happy, but Sarima's ghost would not stop haunting him. Her image swam before his eyes and he gagged, suddenly nauseous, dizzy. 

Elphaba stood also, her hands on her hips, bitterness descending on her face like a curtain dropping at the end of a play. 

"Elphaba…" Fiyero gasped, grappling with the words swirling in his head, trying to make sense of them, to find something to say. "I'm sorry, I…"

He tried to look her in the eye, but she would not meet his gaze, her attention fixed once again on the fire, which was slowly beginning to die. 

"Nevermind," she said softly, her voice like a knife in his heart.

"Elphie, please…you have to understand-"

"I understand enough," said Elphaba firmly, and turned away from him.

Fiyero pressed his lips together, willing himself to maintain control. He was sure he'd seen tears in her eyes, glittering in the firelight, the moment before she'd turned away.

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	9. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Sorry this has taken such a long time…I've never actually written a fight scene before and well…I had an interesting time with it. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 8

"I am telling you that what you are doing is unsafe. I beg you to listen to me or you will be putting the lives of everyone around you in danger!" Gerema's eyes flashed dangerously, and she took a deep breath as though trying to inflate herself to larger than normal size.

Elphaba regarded her coolly, careful to keep the anger that was boiling in her stomach from showing on her face. Getting angry, she thought silently, was the fastest way to lose an argument. Boq and Fiyero stood looking on silently, as though afraid to get caught in the crossfire. 

"And **I** am only saying that if we don't have some way to **monitor **them, we won't know when it's safe to leave again. We can hide down here all we want, but let's face it, we're almost out of food as it is, and we'll suffocate," said Elphaba flatly.

Gerema threw her hands up in the air.

"You are risking the lives of everyone around you for your own foolish purposes."

Elphaba bit back a sharp retort, her mind racing. She knew stubbornness had always been her biggest weakness, and she wondered for a moment if maybe Gerema was right. But she knew also that if no one monitored the advance of the party of beings that was quickly approaching them, they would have no way of knowing when it was safe to leave the tunnels and search for much-needed food. She also knew that she was the only one with the experience required to spy on them from the tower.

"I really don't think you are in a position to judge the level of risk I am taking," said Elphaba slowly, "as I have spent more time here than you. I know this place inside and out. But I don't need to justify myself to you. I'm going up to that tower to watch. Now if you want to stop me, go ahead and try. But talking incessantly isn't going to work."

With that, she turned and started up the staircase, leaving the others staring after her. For a moment she thought she would escape without further argument, but then she heard the shuffle of feet from behind her. Elphaba didn't turn, but instead walked the rest of the way up the staircase and through the trapdoor into the tower of Kiamo Ko. She walked all the way over to the window and knelt down in front of it before turning. Fiyero was standing behind her, arms crossed over his chest.

"What?" she asked sharply.

Fiyero shrugged and put his hands up in surrender. 

"Nothing. I'm just not going to let you be up here by yourself."

Elphaba glared at him, forcing herself to remain at least somewhat calm.

"So now you don't trust me?"

"I didn't say that! Fae—"

"Don't call me that!" Elphaba shrieked before she could stop herself. She turned away from him and planted her hands on her hips, then went back to the window. The party was continuing to advance, moving quickly. They were within a few feet of Kiamo Ko, close enough for Elphaba to see what they were.

"Tiktoks," she murmured under her breath.

"What?" asked Fiyero, coming up behind her.

"Tiktoks. Five of them. And they've got…" Elphaba gasped at what she saw.

The leader of the group had stepped forward and was holding what appeared to be a captive. It raised an axe over the figure's head.

"Show yourself, Witch!" it called in a tinny voice, "Or your little spy dies!"

Elphaba stiffened as it brought the axe down closer.

"You have two minutes."

"Chistery," she grated through clenched teeth. Elphaba turned and started down the main hallway out of Kiamo Ko. Fiyero ran after her, close on her heels.

"What are you doing?" he yelled after her. "Elphaba!" Fiyero caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm, his hand so tight on her wrist that she was sure it would leave bruises.

"I have to go down there." She pulled out of his grasp with a wrenching effort. "I can't just let them kill him. Enough innocent lives have been lost because of me as it is!"

She turned and raced down the main staircase. She was nearly at the door before Fiyero caught up to her again.

"I thought you didn't believe in innocent casualties. As I remember, you said it was all part of the cost."

Elphaba whirled on him, her long, flailing black hair giving her a wild appearance.

"That was different!" she turned back and pulled up the heavy latch on the door, her heart pounding.

"Elphaba!" She could hear Fiyero shouting from somewhere behind her, was determined not to listen. "Stop! It's suicide!"

_Maybe it's better that way_, she thought as she flung open the huge door.

The sun blinded her momentarily; she hadn't realized how dark it was in the tunnels. A small tremor of movement went through the five tiktoks, what would have been surprise if they had been human…or even living.

"Let him go!" cried Elphaba, all thoughts of her own safety vanishing.

"Surrender, Witch!" cried the tiktok.

Elphaba crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground.

"I said let him go."

"Surrender," the thing repeated.

"No." She could see now that they were all carrying axes, knew that they could easily overpower her.

The tiktok raised the axe above Chistery's head, preparing to bring it down.

"Stop!" cried Elphaba. She threw up her hands, knowing she was sacrificing her life. Her heart was pounding in her ears, but her mind was made up. She didn't care anymore.

In the next moment, Elphaba saw Chistery flying away toward one of the towers, felt the tiktoks take hold of her arms. She kicked at one of them, and it struck her a glancing blow across the back of her hand. She winced on impulse, but was surprised at the lack of pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fiyero come running out of the castle, Boq and Gerema close on his heels.

They were going to get killed. They were all going to die. There would be more killing and it would be her fault. The thoughts raced through Elphaba's mind, tumbling over one another in a dizzying rush.

The tiktoks faltered for a moment, perhaps thrown by the sudden appearance of the others. Fiyero was at Elphaba's side in an instant, kicking at the tiktoks and using a large piece of wood as a makeshift club. Elphaba broke free and turned just in time to see the leader of the tiktoks strike a long blow across Fiyero's shoulder. The tiktoks were no longer fighting to capture. They were fighting to kill. Elphaba heard herself cry out as Fiyero sank to his knees.

"Get out of here!" cried Boq.

"I can't," she protested, "This is my fault, I—"

"Elphie, just **go**!"

His voice was so adamant that she turned and ran headlong toward the castle, not even stopping to look back.

Don't hurt me…please don't hurt me…::ducks to avoid large object she knows is about to be thrown by Risa:: REVIEW OR THE TIKTOKS WILL GET YOU!


	10. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Just so everyone knows…this is my favorite chapter to date. It's very long and…I really think you'll like it. So enjoy! Cuz there's more evilness coming soon. ::cackles::

Chapter 9

Glinda carefully tore a piece of burlap out of one of the emptied food sacks and wrapped it around the large gash on Elphaba's hand.

"That's going to get infected if you don't at least try to clean it," said Glinda timidly. The battle had already severely tried her nerves, and she certainly didn't want to spark a fight with Elphaba.

Elphaba turned and gave her a menacing glare.

"Good," she said darkly. "I deserve it."

"Well really, Elphie," said Glinda in exasperation. "I don't see what point there is in beating yourself over this. It's quite simple, really. You've just got to stop doing things you'll regret."

The fight had ended perhaps as well as possible. Everyone had escaped alive, although Fiyero remained unconscious, and there was no sign of Chistery, although he had been seen escaping in one piece.

Elphaba laughed bitterly.

"Simple for you, perhaps. If you do **nothing** all the time, you can be sure you'll have no regrets."

Glinda shrugged.

"That's one way to look at it, I suppose. Elphie, what you did was stupid, there's no question about that. But there's no harm done, really. I mean, those-those **things **are gone for now and I'm sure Fiyero will be all right once he wakes up—"

"Stop!" cried Elphaba, jerking her hand away roughly. "You don't understand _any_thing that happened today. The tiktoks may be gone for now, but you can be sure they'll be back. And in force. Now they know we're here. We'll have to find a new hiding place, not to mention that we're almost completely out of supplies."

Elphaba went over to the couch and sat down, then picked up the Grimmerie and began rifling through it feverishly. Glinda stood looking on in curiosity. 

"You can read that," she said finally, "Can't you?"

Elphaba looked up thoughtfully, as though deciding whether or not to answer honestly.

"Yes," she answered at last," Most of it. But it's constantly changing. And even if I could read all of it, I'd never be able to use it to any effect. Not that I'd even try." Her voice softened noticeably. "I just…don't want to do any more harm than I already have."

"Elphie…"

"No." said Elphaba firmly. "I refuse to talk about this any more."

"If you don't at least _try _to talk about it, how do you expect anything to get better?"

Elphaba sighed and shook her head dejectedly. 

"I don't. At least…not for me. I'm ruined, Glinda, my death is inevitable. I've been lucky so far…but then I always believed luck was some cruel trick of fate. A way to get a person's spirits up before crushing them entirely."

Glinda stared at her in shock, eyes stinging with tears.

"Elphie, please don't talk like that…it isn't true; it can't be."

Just then, Boq strode in, muttering something to himself, and stopped short at the sight of them.

"Is everything all right?" he asked worriedly.

"Just peachy, thanks," muttered Elphaba.

Boq looked back and forth between the two of them, then shook his head and walked back out. Elphaba sighed and massaged her temples vigorously.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she said. Her voice sounded tired, broken. Glinda went over and put a hand on Elphaba's shoulder.

"Then don't think about it right now. Get some sleep, Elphie, you look awful."

Elphaba stiffened at the suggestion.

"I can't. I have to wait and make sure—"

Glinda smiled knowingly.

"He's all right, I promise. Go to bed, I'll send him to you when he wakes up."

The room was lit by a single torch, burning low. Fiyero stopped for a moment in the doorway, content just to watch her sleep. Elphaba was sprawled out across the bed, the single blanket tangled around her legs as though she'd been fighting a secret battle in her dreams. The torch light cast strange shadows all over the room, and for a moment he saw a flash of Elphaba lying asleep in her store room in the Emerald City, her body glowing softly in the moonlight spilling down from the skylight. She'd seemed happy then, he thought sadly, though never peaceful.

Fiyero walked over to the bed and shook her gently, knowing that if he didn't, he'd pay dearly for it in the morning. She woke with a slight start, then looked drowsily up at him, propping herself up on one elbow. For a moment he thought he'd reached her, but then she closed off again, the shift as apparent as a physical transformation.

"Glinda said you wanted to see me," said Fiyero, suddenly feeling awkward.

Elphaba nodded slowly, her face a deliberate mask of indifference. Fiyero had the sudden urge to yell at her, to scream, to force her to let him in. He pushed it away, knowing in his heart that such an attempt would only make things worse.

"Yes," said Elphaba, "I'll assume from the fact that you're here that you're all right."

He sat on the edge of the bed, surprised when she didn't protest.

"I am. Although I'm probably going to regret this in the morning." He rubbed his shoulder and winced slightly.

She didn't respond and Fiyero sighed deeply, hating the silence that hung like a shroud in the air between them.

"And you?" he asked finally.

"What?"

"Are you all right?"

Elphaba nodded curtly.

"I did not sustain any serious injuries."

Fiyero sighed again, hating the flatness of her tone, the clipped pattern of her words.

"I didn't mean it like that." He took her injured hand and held it between both of his, wincing at the coldness of her skin. "You look terrible, Elphie. Anyone can see that you're hurting."

She eyed him warily, and Fiyero knew that his words had reached her at least on some level.

"What do you want from me?" asked Elphaba, her voice hard and accusing.

"I want you to forgive yourself," he answered quickly, "Nothing more until you're ready. Listen to me, Fabala, I know you asked Sarima to forgive you. I'm releasing you now. Let it go."

Elphaba stared at him in astonishment.

"You…you knew? How?"

Fiyero cleared his throat and took a deep breath, surprised at the intensity of the hurt he felt, even after eight years.

"You said it yourself. The Wizard wasn't above torturing friends or family member to get information. And all prisoners of the Gale Force end up in the same place. But that's enough of that," he said firmly, swallowing, "Now you have to promise me you'll stop trying to punish yourself. It's killing you, Elphie, don't think I can't see that."

She stared at him for nearly a full minute before she replied.

"Why?" she asked coldly, "Why should it matter if it is?"

"I love you," said Fiyero, but Elphaba remained unmoved.

"I don't believe in love," she snapped.

"Then what _do_ you believe in?" he shot back, frustrated.

"I believe in one thing and one thing only: The inevitability of being broken by life, of having one's dreams ruined. There's no point in trying. Wishing only leads to hurt."

Fiyero sat in utter silence, struck dumb by the bitterness of her words and the hurt in her voice. He saw, for the first time, how _very_ much she'd changed in the time they'd been apart. Or maybe he'd never truly known her at all, Fiyero thought, tears stinging at the back of his eyes. 

"If that's true, then why did you ask Glinda to make me come talk to you tonight? If that's what you really believe, then why did you come all the way out here to seek forgiveness?"

Elphaba didn't, couldn't answer him. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut against what Fiyero knew were tears, dabbing at them with the edge of the blanket and hissing softly with pain. Fiyero swung his legs up onto the side of the bed, wincing slightly as the bandages on his shoulder pulled, so that he was lying beside her, and took her in his arms. To his surprise, she didn't push him away this time. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, shivering violently. Fiyero rocked her like a small child, running his hands over her back in slow circles.

"Promise," he whispered into the silky darkness of her hair.

"I'll promise to try," she whispered finally, her voice harsh with repressed tears, "And that is all I'll give you for now."

"All right," he agreed, then kissed her, gently, passionately. She moaned softly and pressed herself against him.

"Listen," Fiyero said suddenly, "we live in a world where almost nothing is certain anymore. But I know one thing for sure. If you live your life without love, you'll hurt all the time."

Elphaba didn't answer. She ran her hands up under his shirt, sending an explosion of sensation through him that left him gasping for breath.

"Elphie," he choked out, but she put a finger to his lips.

"I know," she said softly. She started to unbutton his shirt, but he stopped her, his hands suddenly trembling.

"What is it?" asked Elphaba, her brow wrinkled with concern.

"I…um…the Gale Forcers left me with a few 'souvenirs' of my time in their service." He pulled off his shirt finally and she gasped at the multitude of scars covering his chest and back.

"Fiyero…"

He kissed her before she could say anything more, afraid of her words.

"Sh…it's over now."

Elphaba reached out and traced the scars, first with her fingers, then with her lips, as though trying to erase them. Fiyero bit his lip to stifle a cry at her touch. The only physical contact he'd had in the last fifteen years had been the brutal beatings the Gale Forcers had administered each time he'd tried to escape.

Elphaba pulled the blanket back over them and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You know…" he murmured, "For someone who doesn't believe in love…"

"I know. I…don't know what I believe." She tightened her arms about his waist. "I love you, Yero, I'm just so afraid I'm going to lose you again."

He took her hand again and kissed it gently.

"I know. But all we can trust is the here and now. And right here, right now, we're together. And someday soon maybe we'll be able to trust tomorrow a little more too."

"Someday soon," she repeated drowsily, her voice containing just a hint of sarcasm, "Can't be soon enough for me."

You like? Review please!


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The blanket had fallen to the floor sometime during the time that they were asleep, and a kind of clammy cold had filled the room. The torch was still burning somehow, bluish now, and Elphaba wondered whether Glinda's magicked flame was meant to simulate the cycle of daylight in the world above. She sat up and pulled the blanket back over them, shivering a little. Fiyero stirred, smiling at her drowsily. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead gently.

"Sleep well?" he asked, his breath warm against her cheek.

Elphaba shrugged, searched for some indifferent response, then shook herself. There was no need to hide from him any longer. She would have to get used to that.

"Yes."

Fiyero sat up a little and kissed her neck, working his way down to her shoulder. She closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy his touch for a moment longer.

"Fiyero."

He ran his fingers through her hair and down her back. Elphaba sat up, pulling away from him, but allowed him to keep an arm around her waist.

"What?"

"Fiyero…what are we going to do? We don't even have enough food to last two more days, and even if we did, you can be sure the tiktoks will give us no peace now that they know where we are."

Fiyero sighed, his eyes distant. Elphaba reached up to trace the pattern of blue diamonds on his face. 

"I don't know, we could try to move up into Kiamo Ko…It's not as safe, but at least there wouldn't be the danger of getting trapped. The rainy season will be here soon…there's too much chance of a flood for us to stay here much longer. And we could try to hunt tomorrow…today. Listen, the others are awake."

Elphaba smiled a little at the now all-too familiar sound of Glinda chattering incessantly in the main room. She leaned over and kissed Fiyero again, then threw the blanket aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing a little at the cold. She pulled on one of the white Scrow robes, then wove her hair back into a loose braid. Fiyero came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Elphaba turned and caught him in a bone-crushing hug.

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling.

"You saved my life yesterday. I just realized I never thanked you." She buried her face against his shoulder and laughed. "Yero, my hero."

He pulled away and grinned at her, his eyes shining with tears.

"You okay?"

Elphaba's face fell slightly, and she shrugged.

"I'm far from 'okay.' It'll take a hell of a lot more for me to be what you'd call okay. I'm not even sure it's possible anymore."

"Elphaba…"

Fiyero sat back down on the edge of the bed and tried to pull her down beside him.

"Fiyero," she protested, "The others are awake, they'll be—"

He wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist and pulled her onto his lap.

"They'll still be there in ten more minutes. Talk to me."

She slid off his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him desperately.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, her voice muffled against his neck.

"Ask yourself that question."

"Well I would," said Elphaba dryly. "but we're currently not on speaking terms."

Fiyero laughed and kissed her temple.

"What?"

"Nothing. I love you."

"What was it like?" Elphaba asked slowly, "in the ruby mines?"

Fiyero sighed deeply and tightened his arms around her waist.

"Awful…" he whispered. "I don't …I can't really remember…except…pain…and…." He took a long, shuddering breath, then let it out slowly. "I'm sorry. I can't talk about this yet." He shivered.

In a rare moment of tenderness, Elphaba kissed his forehead and ran her fingers through his hair. Then she got to her feet and pulled him up beside her.

"Come on. We need to figure out what we're going to do."

In the main room, Glinda was attempting to magick the dry wheat crackers into something more edible. Gerema was standing off in one corner, her face unreadable. Boq was hovering over Glinda's shoulder, looking on nervously.

"Really, Master Boq, I don't see what you're so worried about. It's quite a simple task, really. There's hardly anything that could go wrong…"

There was a small "pop" noise and the pile of crackers shattered into a multitude of crumbs. 

"Hmm…" muttered Glinda in dismay, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

Gerema sighed loudly from her place in the corner, and Glinda rounded on her.

"What?" asked Glinda indignantly, "You think you could have done better?"

Gerema only shrugged.

"I do not pretend to have any sorcery training. I simply think it would have had a better outcome if you had simply left the crackers as they were."

Glinda daintily turned up her nose at Gerema and made one of the little "hmph" noises that seemed to be her specialty.

"Well…" She searched unsuccessfully for some witty comeback, then threw up her hands helplessly. "Breakfast. I'm sure it still tastes the same…" She gestured for the others to eat the cracker crumbs.

Gerema turned up her nose and sat down on the creaky old sofa. Boq tore his eyes away from the mess on the table and jumped slightly as he caught sight of Elphaba and Fiyero for the first time. 

"Good morning." Fiyero greeted, acting as though nothing was amiss.

Elphaba gave him a look, then walked to the other side of the room, keeping her face carefully neutral. Glinda let out a few giggles, then quickly got control of herself after seeing the others' disapproving looks. 

"Did you two…sleep well?" asked Glinda, then dissolved into another fit of giggles. Elphaba gave her a look to kill, and Glinda quickly stuffed some cracker crumbs into her mouth, then broke into a coughing fit.

"Right," said Fiyero, ignoring Glinda's predicament. "We have some…things to figure out."

Boq took a handful of cracker crumbs off the table and sat down on the sofa. Gerema got up and walked to the other side of the room, where she stood leaning against a wall. Boq looked slightly taken aback at her sudden departure, even more so when Elphaba sat down beside him in Gerema's place.

"Things?" asked Boq, "Like the fact that we have no food besides this…this…" He gestured to the crumbs on the table. 

Fiyero looked around to see if someone else would take control of the discussion. When no one did, he cleared his throat.

"I think we all know we can't stay here much longer. We're no longer safe here now that the tiktoks know where we are. It would be all too easy for them to surround us and trap us down here. We'd suffocate, or starve. And even if we managed to remain hidden, the rainy season will be starting any day now. If a tunnel were to cave in…" He trailed off and looked around the room. Everyone was watching him with rapt attention. Fiyero turned to Gerema. "I'd be willing to attempt to hunt this afternoon if you'll come with me."

Gerema nodded curtly.

"When shall we leave?"

Fiyero shrugged.

"As soon as you can be ready."

She nodded again, then walked off down the hallway, presumably to gather the necessary equipment. Fiyero turned back towards the bedroom, Elphaba close on his heels.

"What?" he asked when they were out of earshot of Glinda and Boq.

"I'm going with you," said Elphaba firmly.

Fiyero sighed and shook his head.

"No. I won't let you risk your life any more than you already have."

"And I won't let _you _take foolish risks!" Elphaba snapped.

"Elphie, it's not a foolish risk. It's a necessity. If we don't hunt, we'll starve. That is a fact and you know it." 

"Fiyero…" She trailed off, her expression softening. "I…I need to go with you this time. I do trust you, but…if something were to happen…"

Fiyero sighed and took her gently by the shoulders.

"Elphaba, _life _is risky. You're just going to have to accept that." He paused, then shook his head helplessly. "All right. Come with us then. But you have to promise me you'll stay calm this time."

Elphaba nodded solemnly, then followed him back out into the main room to gather the others.

Okay so…some fluffiness for you. Goodness knows they deserve it. Review please!


	12. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is so short…I had dental surgery yesterday and I'm still not all here so…yeah, I did the best I could. Forgive me, and I hope you enjoy it anyway.

=P Michelle

~~

Chapter 11

"What are we hunting?" Boq asked uneasily as he watched Fiyero attach a sharpened piece of stone to the end of a long stick.

"Anything we can catch," answered Fiyero. "Probably some small ground rodents are the best we can hope for. We don't have long." He glanced out the window of the tower. "It looks like there's going to be a pretty bad storm later this afternoon." He shot a pointed look at Elphaba.

"I'll be _fine," _she muttered indignantly, glaring at Fiyero.

He sighed and began sharpening the end of a stick with a pocketknife.

"Are we ready?" asked Gerema, poking her head up through the trapdoor.

Fiyero sighed again, then nodded to Boq and Gerema.

"You two go on ahead; I'll catch up in a minute."

They turned and left. Elphaba started to follow, but Fiyero grabbed her wrist.

"Wait. I want to talk to you for a minute."

Elphaba turned and glared at him.

"Fiyero, I don't know why you don't trust me all of a sudden, but I don't like it." 

He took her firmly by the shoulders and turned her toward him, but she still refused to meet his gaze. Her eyes darted around the room feverishly, her stomach turning over at the scorch marks on the floor. It was an odd perspective thinking of Kiamo Ko as it stretched above them from the tunnels, to be sure, but she knew now beyond a doubt. This was where it had happened.

"Elphaba, listen to me." Fiyero took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "It's not about me not trusting you or thinking you're too weak or…or anything like that. This is about *my* weakness and my lack of trust in myself. Elphaba, please, _please_ understand. If anything were to happen-"

She pulled away from him and bent over, taking a pinch of ash between her fingers and dusting it over the floor thoughtfully. Elphaba sighed, her face softening. She went back over to Fiyero and took his hand, palm up, tracing the lines on his dark skin.

"Fine. If it's what you need me to do."

Fiyero nodded, then pulled her into his arms, practically crushing her against him.

"Thank you."

Elphaba closed her eyes and kissed his neck, willing herself to be calm.

"Promise you'll be careful."

He nodded, his long brown hair tickling her cheek.

"I promise. I'll be back before you know it."

A giggle from somewhere behind Fiyero's shoulder made them both jump. Glinda was standing at the top of the stairs, looking positively ecstatic at the confirmation of her suspicions.

Fiyero cleared his throat loudly, kissed Elphaba one final time, then turned and jogged out the door, leaving her and Glinda to face one another. 

"What?" asked Elphaba at last.

Glinda dissolved into another fit of giggles, which only served to make Elphaba angrier. 

"What?" she repeated, louder this time.

"Nothing," gasped Glinda, "I just…the two of you…together…it's so…so…" She dissolved into giggles again.

Elphaba sniffed loudly and glared at her.

"Glinda, stop. Just stop."

Elphaba turned abruptly, her long skirt swirling around her, and started down the stairs. Glinda was still standing in the tower above, giggling.

"Come on," Elphaba called, "We've got all this furniture to move and almost no time. And if you don't stop that-"

"All right, all right, I'm coming!" Glinda scurried back down the stairs into the tunnels, still giggling like a giddy teenager.

~~

The rising wind swept over the dry ground and picked up funnels of dust, like miniature cyclones dancing in among the grass. The sky had turned an ominous yellow-green, and the air was filled with the sharp, dangerous smell of a coming storm. The hunting party trudged on, empty handed. Any small animals they might have had a chance at capturing with their minimal hunting gear had already scurried into warm dry hiding places to whether the storm in peace.

Fiyero glanced at the sky, which appeared to be descending on them with each passing moment, and quickened his step. Boq and Gerema followed, a few paces behind. Every now and then, Boq would stumble over a clump of grass or small rock hidden in the dust and go sprawling headlong, dropping all his supplies and considerably slowing the group's progress.

A hand on his shoulder made Fiyero jump and tighten his grip on his makeshift spear. He turned to see Gerema glaring at him.

"What?" asked Fiyero impatiently.

"We are not going to accomplish anything if we continue. We will simply become caught out in the storm."

Fiyero shook his head.

"You know as well as I do that a storm like this could last days. Weeks. And we have no food. We need to return with something or we'll all starve."

"And if we do not return at all?" asked Gerema.

Fiyero sighed and looked at the ground. He knew it was a very real possibility that they would not make it back if they became caught in the storm, but they were already too far out to make it back in time, and if they returned empty handed it was a sure death sentence for them all.

"Then I guess the remaining supplies will last longer," he said finally, and kept walking.

The next thing he knew, Boq was at his side, trying to say something but too panicked to speak clearly. Fiyero stopped, grabbing Boq by the shoulders to keep him still.

"What?"

Boq swallowed hard and took a deep, trembling breath.

"There's-there's something following us. Something big."

"Do not listen to him," Gerema broke in, "He is inexperienced and easily frightened."

"I know what I saw!" Boq insisted hysterically.

"Just keep walking," said Fiyero firmly. "If there is something following us, it will do us no good to stop now."

"Aren't you going to do anything?" asked Boq.

"There is nothing to be done," said Gerema condescendingly, "but get control of yourself."

They continued walking in silence for a few paces, until a noise from behind made them all turn. Out of the high grass walked a creature from out of their nightmares. It was as tall as a fully grown man, and walked on all fours. It had the body of a bear and the head of a tiger, and dark, shining black eyes that glittered with thirst for blood. 

"I told you," whispered Boq. 

He turned to run, but Fiyero stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

"Don't. Don't run. You can't outrun it, it's suicide if you try."

"What are we going to do then?"

"We'll have to try to find a way to fight it."

~~

Review please!


	13. Chapter 12

~~

Chapter 12

"Wh-what is it?" whimpered Boq. Fiyero pinched his wrist in return. "Ouch!" yelped Boq.

Fiyero turned and glared at him.

"Just in case it has not yet occurred to you…be *quiet* unless you want to enrage it and make it charge sooner than necessary."

Boq grimaced.

"Oh."

The creature had paused a few yards away, and appeared to be surveying the hunting party, as though trying to decide the best way to finish them off. Somehow it was later in the day than any of them had judged, and the sun was alarmingly low in the sky. Fat rain drops began to fall all around them, slowly at first, each one sending up a little puff of dust as it hit the dry ground. One landed on the creature's head, and it let out a low growl. Boq shuddered and took a couple steps backward. 

"Back up and try to walk away…slowly," instructed Fiyero, "And don't turn your back on it. Whatever you do, try to keep eye contact. It won't charge if you can intimidate it."

Gerema made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort, then began backing up. The group backed up until the creature was about thirty feet away, then Fiyero put up a hand to stop them.

"You all have your spears," he said, not turning to look at them.

There were various murmurs of agreement from Boq and Gerema.

"We're going to stay here for a while and hope that it gets bored with us and decides to leave."

"And if it doesn't?" asked Boq.

"Then we all charge it at once. And make as much noise as we can."

"And pray for our lives," added Gerema darkly. 

"What is it?" Boq asked again, "Have you ever seen one before?"

"A Kalidah. Once. Be quiet before you get us all killed," Fiyero ground through clenched teeth.

Boq clapped a hand over his mouth and tried not to panic. The Kalidah was walking slowly towards them, stalking them like some huge cat. Boq looked down at the point of his spear and noticed how fragile it looked. He wondered whether the point might not simply break off if he tried to attack something that large with it. The rain began to fall harder and there was rumble of thunder off in the distance. The air seemed to crackle with energy around them.

Something whizzed through the air and scraped Boq's ear from behind. He let out a cry of fright and started to run as fast as he can, but collided head on with Gerema. Boq fell to the ground with a loud thud. The Kalidah gave an enraged roar and ran toward the small group with alarming speed. 

In a matter of seconds it was on top of Boq, batting at him with those huge paws. He rolled over, tried to get up, realizing an instant too late that he would exposing himself more to the creature. It had claws, nearly an inch long each, and thick. Boq propelled himself backwards with all his might, and managed by some small miracle to keep his face out of the path of the claws. He wasn't lucky enough to escape entirely, however, and the Kalidah caught his right leg under one of the huge paws.

Boq screamed as the claws dug in. It felt like a thousand needles, a million bee stings, a gallon of boiling water had just marred the flesh, and his head began to spin.

Then, by some mercy, the creature was backing away, making a terrible shrieking noise. Boq whipped sweat from his eyes, horrified by the amount of blood on his hands. It took him a moment to comprehend where it was all coming from, but then he nearly passed out again upon catching sight of his injured leg. He heard the others yelling, and looked up in time to see something flying above their heads. It was nearly dark now, and the others were hard to make out. As Boq watched, the creature reared back, pawing at something that was attacking its face from the air. In the same moment, Fiyero and Gerema charged at it and dove their spears into its back.

"Boq, move!" shouted Fiyero

Boq somehow managed to scramble out of the way. The Kalidah fell inches from him, the ground shaking with the impact of its weight. Blood spattered everywhere, and Boq closed his eyes, giving in to unconsciousness. 

~~

The wind was howling outside, a hollow, lonely sound, accented by the sound of hail ricocheting of the sides of the tower in all directions. The storm sounded for all the world like a horde of otherworldly creatures trying to break down the strong rock walls of Kiamo Ko. Night had fallen nearly two hours ago, and still the hunting party had not returned.

Elphaba sat on the couch, once again rifling through the Grimmerie. 

"What are you looking for?" Glinda asked finally, tearing herself away from the window and going to sit beside Elphaba.

"Nothing…I don't know. I just thought…There was a map in here earlier…"

"And you thought it might show you where the others are," Glinda finished quietly. 

Elphaba looked at her sharply, started to deny it, then nodded.

"Do you think they're all right?" asked Glinda finally.

"How should I know?" Elphaba snapped back.

"Well…you know this part of the country much better than I do…I just thought…maybe…"

"You thought maybe I'd be like the rest of the world and give you some sweet little reassurance that could keep you from worrying and allow you to deny the truth of the matter."

"I didn't mean-"

"Yes you did. That's exactly what you meant. I'm not going to give it to you. Here is what I think, since you asked. The Vinkus is a treacherous land, especially after dark. They went out with almost no equipment, later in the day than any of us realized. This is one of the worst storms I have ever seen. If you want my opinion, they lost their way and ran into who knows what. For all we know, they could be dinner for some large animal…or prisoners of the Gale Force."

"Or perfectly fine," said Glinda softly. "Maybe they caught something huge and it's just taking them a long time to get it back here."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the huge wooden door, and both women jumped up. Glinda pushed Elphaba back immediately, earning her an angry glare.

"Not you!" Glinda scolded, "It's _raining_, for Oz sake!"

Elphaba sniffed her disapproval, but followed several steps behind Glinda.

After several great efforts, Glinda managed to unbar the heavy door and throw it open. She let out a high-pitched scream at what she saw. Fiyero and Gerema stood in the doorway, drenched and exhausted. Behind them lay the enormous carcass of the Kalidah. Gerema was carrying the unconscious Boq on her back, but she looked ready to drop him and leave him behind. 

"Behold, the triumphant hunters," muttered Elphaba. "What the hell happened?"

"We, uh, had some close contact with the indigenous wildlife," said Fiyero, dropping his drenched cloak unceremoniously on the hall floor as he walked in. 

Glinda watched concernedly as Gerema dumped Boq on the sofa in a similar manner.

"What happened to him?" asked Elphaba as she watched Fiyero attempt to wrap a towel around his still-dripping hair.

Gerema shrugged, and began dragging the Kalidah carcass in behind her. Glinda clapped a hand over her mouth and looked thoroughly disgusted.

"Slight accident." She turned to Fiyero. "You should take him hunting more often. He makes quite good bait."

Everyone glared at Gerema, and there likely would have been a fight if it hadn't been for Chistery, several seconds behind the rest of the party, swooping in through the door. He landed on the floor and shook himself like a wet dog before flitting up to perch on Elphaba's shoulder. 

"Our savior," said Fiyero, grinning at Elphaba. "I thought he might be a friend of yours." 

Elphaba reached up and stroked the monkey's head.

"Help hunters have heart," he chattered in response, which made everyone laugh.

Fiyero walked over and wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist from behind. Glinda smiled at them, but remained mercifully silent for once.

"So," said Fiyero thoughtfully, "I guess overall we should call this a success."

"I think Boq would disagree."

"At least we accomplished our task." He gestured to the large, filthy carcass. "Once we clean it, it could last us days. At least until the rain stops."

"That's not all," said Glinda, in a rare moment of thought.

"What?" asked Elphaba. 

"As long as it keeps raining, the tiktoks can't find us. They'll rust if they try to go out in this weather. So we're safe, at least for the time being."

Everyone stared at Glinda, amazed at the wisdom behind her words.

~~

Review please!


	14. Chapter 13

Author's Note: Thanks to Drew (Fiyero) for the idea of the Kalidah in the last chapter. Sorry I forgot to add that last time…=P

~~

Chapter 13

Glinda delicately pinched her nose and made a prim face of disgust.

"That-thing smells like wet fur," she announced indignantly, pointing to the Kalidah carcass that was still sitting, dripping and beginning to smell slightly rancid, in the middle of the entrance hall of Kiamo Ko. 

"The really frightening thing would be if it smelled like rosebuds, or honeysuckle, or some other dreadful sweet thing," muttered Elphaba from where she was standing over the couch, examining Boq's injured leg.

"If you'd help me skin it," said Fiyero, who was walking in a large circle around the carcass, "I'm sure it wouldn't smell like wet fur anymore."

Glinda made a strangled choking sound and clapped her hands over her mouth. Gerema grinned at her, not nicely. 

"Are you quite all right, Miss Glinda?" she asked, "You seem to be looking a little like Miss Elphaba."

Both women turned to glare at Gerema. Fiyero pulled out a pocketknife and began skinning the carcass. Glinda shrieked and buried her face in the couch. Chistery followed, patting her on the shoulder sympathetically. Elphaba finished bandaging Boq's leg and went over to help Fiyero, but he waved her away.

"Don't, Elphie, the fur is all wet."

Elphaba humphed in frustration and went to sit next to Glinda. Just then, Boq moaned and tried to sit  up, crying out in pain when he tried to move his leg. Elphaba grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to lie back down.

"Let me go!" Boq shrieked, struggling with Elphaba. 

Glinda tore herself away from the sofa at last and went over to help calm Boq down. He quieted immediately at the sight of her face.

"Wh-what happened?" sputtered Boq.

"That happened," said Elphaba matter-of-factly, pointing toward the now half-skinned carcass. Boq screamed again, and nearly fell off the couch. Glinda tutted disapprovingly and sat down on the couch, pulling Boq's head into her lap. 

Gerema went over and helped Fiyero cut the meat off the Kalidah carcass and hang it over the fire. Then they dragged the rest of the dead animal a little way outside the door, in hopes that the cool weather would preserve it and keep scavengers away at least until the morning.

Fiyero came back in a moment later and dried his hands on a towel. He went over to one of the big armchairs and pulled Elphaba onto his lap. She struggled with him for a moment, blushing and half-heartedly trying to squirm away from him, but eventually she gave up and settled back against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"What's going to happen to us?" asked Glinda after a moment. Everyone turned and looked at her.

Gerema sat down cross legged in front of the fire, staring intently at the cooking meat. It was crackling softly, and beginning to give off a slightly appetizing smell. 

"What do you mean?" Fiyero countered a moment later.

"Well, we can't go back to the Emerald City…not with the tiktoks running things. You heard what the Princess said; we'll be killed if we do. But I mean…if they really are taking over all of Oz…and they're machines; they can't be stopped—won't they eventually find us out here too?"

An uneasy silence descended over the room, like a collective sigh from everyone. A log broke in the fire, sending up a small shower of sparks. The wind howled outside and the shudders creaked. An especially bright bolt of lightning lit up the cracks in the shudders and made the fire look dark. A moment later, a low growl of thunder rolled in from some distant land. It seemed somehow like a message, a prophecy, a symbol of their fate. Elphaba shivered and Fiyero tightened his arms around her. Boq moaned softly. 

"I guess," said Elphaba slowly. "They will for certain if we don't do anything."

"Not you too," moaned Boq.

"What?" asked Elphaba.

"Everyone keeps saying we need to overthrow the tiktoks, mount some kind of resistance."

"We do," said Gerema. "That is exactly what we must do."

"But…how?" whined Glinda. "They're…hundreds of invincible machines! And we're…us."

"And even if we _do _manage to overthrow them, then what? Who rules then?" asked Boq.

"Whomever we put in place," said Fiyero thoughtfully. Everyone turned to look at him. He cleared his throat uneasily. "I mean…assuming that *we* are the ones who overthrow the tiktoks, that would make us the current leaders. So whomever we decide to put in place would rule."

"And your suggestion is…?" said Elphaba.

"Whoa, whoa," interrupted Glinda, "Now you're assuming that we're actually *going* to successfully overthrow the tiktoks?"

"Assume failure and you will fail," said Elphaba simply.

"We're doomed," said Boq darkly, "and you've all gone batty."

"You know," said Glinda thoughtfully, "they say that the last Ozma is still alive, hidden somewhere."

"More than that," said Fiyero, they say she's hidden out here. In the Vinkus."

"You believe those rumors?" asked Boq.

"In every rumor there is at least some seed of truth," replied Elphaba enigmatically. "And it would explain why the tiktoks were out here in the first place. They can't have much other interest in the Vinkus; there's certainly no immediate threat to them and their tyranny."

"Then even if she is out here she'll certainly be destroyed." Boq sat up and looked at Elphaba, who was staring distantly at a spot on the wall. The orange firelight looked strange against her green skin. Boq thought that he could practically see her mind working, struggling to untangle the threads of the mess they were in.

"Not if we get to her first," she said finally. A loud crack of thunder shook the floorboards, made them all jump. It seemed like a sign somehow, a judgment from the universe. As if some greater power was listening. Elphaba shook herself. That was nonsense. But it certainly saved her the job of having to persuade the others.

She looked at each of them in turn, Gerema, who was sitting in front of the fire, Glinda, pensively smoothing a deep wrinkle in her enormous blue skirt, Boq, alternately flexing his leg and wincing. Each one met her gaze with a single nod of assent. Finally, she turned to Fiyero. He nodded solemnly, then kissed her temple. She gave him a look of disapproval, then stood and faced the others. Sometime during the last few minutes, perhaps with that colossal crack of thunder, she knew she had become by some unspoken agreement, the leader.

"We leave when this storm lets up," said Elphaba, ending the discussion.

Fiyero stood behind her.

"I'm going to bed. We'll be safe in here as long as it's raining, but we need to be prepared to leave as soon as it stops. We may not have much time before the tiktoks arrive once the weather clears up."

He turned and started up the large spiral staircase that led to the towers and inner rooms. Elphaba followed, turning back to glare when Glinda snorted in a decidedly unladylike manner. Fiyero led her down the corridor to what had once been his bedroom when he and his family had lived in Kiamo Ko, looping an arm around her waist as soon as they were out of sight of the others. Elphaba realized suddenly that this was the only part of the huge old castle that she'd never had the strength to venture into. She felt a pang of guilt at that, and pulled away from him.

She was amazed that the castle had remained almost completely untouched during the weeks that she'd been gone. Somehow she had expected that the Wizard's troops would have sacked the place the moment word got out that she was dead. Apparently the madness which had broken loose in the city with the tiktok uprising had diverted attention away from her old hideout. For the most part, everything was exactly where it had been, sheets on the beds, molding food in the cupboards. 

Fiyero stopped in front of a closed door and began struggling with the handle. It stuck, as though it hadn't been opened in years. Finally, he pushed the door open with his good shoulder, revealing the room beyond. Elphaba's heart sped up at the sight of it. Somehow she'd regarded it as forbidden territory, a silent punishment, when she'd been here before.

Fiyero grabbed a blanket off the shelf and spread it over the bed, then pulled Elphaba down beside him, kissing her neck and running his fingers through her hair.

"You okay?" she asked softly, turning to face him and gently running her hands over his injured shoulder.

He nodded, then sighed deeply.

"Now I am." He leaned forward, resting his head against her neck. "For a while there I honestly thought we weren't going to get back."

She kissed him, gently at first, then harder, until they were both gasping for breath.

"You scared me. You disappeared again."

"Elphie…" Fiyero pulled her into a tight hug. "you're just going to have to learn to live with the uncertainty. We both are."

She sighed and nodded. Fiyero lay back against the bed, pulling her down on top of him and wrapping his arms around her waist. 

"Listen," said Elphaba after a moment.

"What?"

"The storm's dying down."

~~

Review please!


	15. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Just to let everyone know, I'm in the middle of two weeks of tech rehearsals for a show that opens on the 7th. So if updates slow down…::crosses fingers that they won't:: that's why. Oh, and look for my show fic very soon…it actually has a plotline completed now. And thanks to Drew for editing. 

~~

Chapter 14

Fiyero woke with the first gray hints of sun. They had only been in the tunnels for a little over a week and yet already he had grown accustomed to the constant, pressing darkness. The rain had subsided to a constant cold gray mist that promised to burn off by midmorning. He pushed the blanket aside and crawled out of bed, leaving Elphaba sleeping. He stretched gingerly, wincing at the sharp pain in his shoulder. The cut was still open and bleeding, though much less than before. The previous day's exertion certainly hadn't helped the wound any, and it was beginning to feel as though his entire shoulder was cold and aching.

"You all right?"

Fiyero turned to see Elphaba sitting up in bed, studying him with concern. He sighed, then nodded, and went over to sit beside her. 

"Fine. Just…sore."

Elphaba ran her fingers through his hair, then brought her hands down to rest on his injured shoulder, massaging gently. He leaned back into her touch and closed his eyes, trying to make his thoughts stop their dizzying relay in his mind. Everything was changing so fast after what had seemed like an eternity when his life had come to a grinding halt in the work camps.

"What is it?" asked Elphaba after a moment, kissing his collarbone.

"I was just thinking…about something that happened while I was in the camps." Fiyero pulled away from her and stood, crossing his arms over his chest and pacing restlessly for a moment before coming to a stop in a corner in front of some shelves. "One day…about a month ago now, I guess…It was the day before that girl-Dorothy-the day before they said you-"

"Died," supplied Elphaba, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"Yes," said Fiyero. He began rifling through the stack of linens on the shelf, looking for supplies to take with them. "There was a woman—an old woman—She just *appeared* there. I was working digging trenches—for the water they were draining—that day. And the next thing I knew, there was this ancient woman standing there. She said there was going to be a change. And that I needed to find my family. Then the next day the Wizard left, the tiktoks took over…that was the day I escaped. Half the rest of the camp did too. It was total chaos that day."

Fiyero trailed off and pulled a bag from the closet, dropping things into it for the journey ahead of them. Elphaba sat looking on, her blood like ice in her veins.

"I never even thought what she meant by family," said Fiyero, almost to himself. "At the time I thought she was crazy, just another prisoner, but now…now I wonder."

"You wonder what?" asked Elphaba sharply.

"Elphie." Fiyero went over to her and took her by the shoulders, searching her rich brown eyes. "I know this may be ridiculous for me even to ask but…there wasn't…a child…was there?"

Elphaba wrenched herself away from him and went over to stand in front of the window, gazing out intently. She forced herself to focus on the rain, though the very sight of it made her tingle with panic. She could feel every drop as she watched, burning, searing, digging into her flesh like a thousand needles. That would be a relief now, she thought, compared to the guilt.

Fiyero sighed impatiently. Elphaba swallowed hard, concentrated on drawing the walls of numbness back up around herself like a cloak against the cruel, biting rain.

"There was," she said flatly. "He's gone. It's of no matter now."

"Elphaba…"

She pulled her cloak off the bedpost where she had cast it off the night before, wrapping it hurriedly around the dress she hadn't bothered to take off. She felt trapped suddenly, pressured. She couldn't be in this room with him for a moment longer. She turned to leave, but Fiyero was barring her path before she could make it two feet.

"Elphaba, I need to know. What happened?"

She tried to push her way past him, but he took hold of her shoulders and would not let go.

"You can tell me."

"No," she said stubbornly, "I can't."

"Come on, don't close off on me again like that. Elphaba, I have a right to know."

"No," she repeated softly, "no, you have no right. Where were you when I needed you? A prisoner of your own distrust and stupidity."

She pushed roughly past him and out of the bedroom, leaving him staring after her in shock.

~~

"I don't think he likes me much," remarked Boq as he attempted to scramble up onto the back of one of the Scrow donkeys without further injuring his leg.

"You're sitting on him," said Elphaba, who was in a particularly sour mood after the morning's events, "What do you expect?"

Glinda attempted to pet the donkey's neck, wrinkling her nose in disgust when it snorted loudly at her. Fiyero and Gerema loaded the remainder of their food and supplies onto the back of the other donkey. Gray clouds hung low in the sky and the air was still and hot. It was bound to start raining again by mid-afternoon, but Elphaba had insisted on beginning their journey anyway. She seemed suddenly all too eager to get away from Kiamo Ko, Boq thought nervously. She had found an old umbrella in one of the storage rooms and was holding it like a weapon.

"We are ready," said Gerema in her characteristic unexpressive tone.

Boq shivered and pulled his cloak tighter around him. It was unbearably hot and yet he couldn't help feeling chilled at the thought of leaving the security of the old castle and setting off into the Vinkus with no destination and very few supplies.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked timidly, flinching when Elphaba turned and glared at him.

"Unless you would like to stay here and wait to be enslaved by the tiktoks," said Elphaba meanly.

"Elphaba," started Fiyero, but she wouldn't let him speak.

"All right," said Elphaba loudly, ignoring Fiyero. "We're ready. Let's go." She took hold one of the donkey's bridles and jerked it as hard as she could. The group followed, straggling a few feet behind. 

It was late afternoon when the first raindrops started to fall. They had made it all the way out into the very edge of the Thousand Year Grasslands where the grass began to thin and the hills began. A loud crack of thunder brought the group to a halt. The wind began to pick up, blowing little dust devils in the sand. All eyes turned to Elphaba.

"What are you going to do?" asked Fiyero cautiously.

"I don't know. We'll have to find shelter somewhere."

"Elphie," said Glinda, panicked, "there isn't anywhere. We're in the middle of nowhere."

~~

Review please!


	16. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Just so everyone knows…on Friday and Saturday I will be going on in my show as a witch. Complete with REAL green stage makeup. It looks AMAZING.  So wish me luck. And thanks once again to Drew for nitpicking…ahem…er, editing. =P

~~

Chapter 15

"How did you find this place?" asked Elphaba, wincing as Fiyero helped her out of her wet cloak. He had somehow spotted the cave like a hawk sighting its prey from miles away. He had grabbed Elphaba and made a run for it, leaving the others behind. She could hear them now, tramping through the wet grass outside like a pack of wild animals. She looked at the curtain of rain at the mouth of the cave and shuddered. 

"How are you?" asked Fiyero, putting his arms around her. She leaned gratefully into his embrace for a moment, but then remembered that she was angry with him and pulled away.

"Fine. You didn't answer my question."

"Which was?" Fiyero asked absently.

"How you found this place."

"I used to live out here, remember?" he said, slightly annoyed with her. He knew he'd opened up some old wound by asking her about the child, whoever he was, but Fiyero still felt he had a right to know.

"Well, yes of course, but you've been away for such a long time, how could you possibly—"

"Elphaba, why should it matter?" shouted Fiyero, suddenly in a rage. "You still don't trust me, do you? You never did!"

She flew at him then, all rational thought pushed aside by anger. Just then, Glinda and Gerema rushed into the cave, Boq close on their heels.

"Elphie, Elphie, stop!" screamed Glinda.

"What's happening?" asked Boq, limping in behind her.

"I don't know!"

Fiyero had fallen to his knees, clutching his injured shoulder. Elphaba froze, the fire of her anger passing as quickly as it had come on. She knelt down beside him, one hand on his back.

"Elphaba, what is going on?" asked Glinda.

Elphaba shook her head.

"I…don't know. I don't know what happened, I just—I've never felt anything like it, except—"

"Except what?"

"Nevermind," she said quickly, and turned back to Fiyero. "Talk to me, Yero. Are you all right?" Her voice shook with guilt and fear.

He shook his head, and she realized suddenly that he was struggling to stay conscious. She brushed the back of her hand against his forehead, wincing as his sweat stung her skin. He was burning up. Elphaba wrapped her arms around him supportively, her last thought of anger vanishing. 

"Glinda, bring me a blanket," she ordered.

Glinda and Gerema hurried outside to unhitch the donkeys. Fortunately, the sacks that the Scrow had given them had been waterproofed and the supplies had remained dry despite the storm. Glinda magicked a smokeless fire in the middle of the cave, and together she and Elphaba laid Fiyero, who was now nearly unconscious, on the blanket beside the fire.

"Fiyero, talk to me," Elphaba repeated, her voice filled with desperation. "How long has it been hurting? You told me you were all right! You lied to me!"

Glinda took her hands gently.

"Elphaba, calm down. Yelling isn't going to help anything."

Glinda took a small pocketknife from the supplies and cut Fiyero's shirt open. The wound on his shoulder was open and bleeding beneath the bandages, more inflamed even than it had been when it was new. Elphaba drew in a sharp breath and willed herself to stay in control.

"Infected," breathed Glinda.

"Or poisoned," said Elphaba.

The others looked at her, alarmed.

"What do you mean?" asked Boq.

"That wound," said Elphaba slowly, "is from a tiktok axe. It would be quite a trick of theirs to poison their blades." She looked at her own injured hand. She turned back to Gerema. "You are trained in the ways of this land. Is there anything you can do?"

Gerema looked around thoughtfully for a moment, then shook her head.

"If I do not know what the poison is, there is nothing I can do. And we do not even know if it is in fact poison."

Glinda took Elphaba by the shoulders and led her away from Fiyero.

"Listen to me, Elphie," said Glinda carefully. "If it is poison, then you are infected too. I know you don't want to hear this, but you can't be worrying right now. You need to calm down and you need to sleep. That's the only way you have a chance of getting through this."

"No!" said Elphaba vehemently. "I'm *fine*. You all need me."

"Elphaba, look at you, you're falling apart. We need you, but right now we need you to give up control for a little while. Lie down."

Elphaba sighed, then obeyed reluctantly.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep."

"I'll take care of that," said Glinda, pulling out her wand.

Elphaba lay back on the hard floor of the cave and closed her eyes. The spell did its work quickly, but somehow sleep only intensified the nightmare she was living.

_The room was completely trashed. The crates were overturned, the jar of mild shattered. Even the skylight was broken. The hulking form of the __Emerald__Palace__ loomed up over the new hole in the ceiling, the remaining shards marring the image like gruesome scars. And the blood. There was blood everywhere. **So much blood. **_

_"No!" moaned Elphaba, closing her eyes against acid tears. "No, no, no! Anything but this! Why this?"_

_"Now, now, my dearie, awfully upset for someone with no soul."_

_Elphaba whirled toward the voice, nearly tripping over pieces of wreckage in the gloom. She gasped. Yackle was standing immediately below the scattered skylight, a few late snowflakes lighting in her white hair and disappearing._

_"You," growled Elphaba, advancing on the old woman._

_Yackle raised a hand to stop her._

_"No, no, my pet, don't want to get wet." She pointed toward the open ceiling, and suddenly the snowflakes turned to a pouring gale of water._

_Elphaba flinched and took a step backward. Yackle laughed, wildly, maddeningly._

_"Who are you?" she demanded, glaring at the old woman._

_Yackle stopped laughing and turned on Elphaba, her face hard as stone and completely unreadable._

_"Mother Yackle is what you fear most, my darling," snarled the woman._

_Elphaba caught her breath and her knees went weak._

_"What?" she repeated. "What are you?"_

_"You know, dearie. You know what you fear most. Your soul."_

_Elphaba gasped for breath. The room began to spin dizzyingly around her._

_"No…you…what do you mean?"_

_"You know, dearie, you've seen it. Mother Yackle has taken your soul."_

_~~_

Review please!


	17. Chapter 16

Author's Note: The show went well, in case anyone is wondering. Email me if you want details…updates should be faster now…and I'm gonna have a new chapter of the showfic up hopefully tomorrow. 

Chapter 16

_Liir was walking on water. No, not walking, he was being dragged away, following some unseen current. He was getting away, he was escaping. Elphaba tried to run after him, to bring him back, to keep him with her, but he just kept walking. She knew that if she followed him into the water she would meet her death, but somehow she couldn't just let him go. She started to run after him, ignoring the water searing her feet as she touched it. She called out to Liir, but he didn't turn. He just kept walking, walking away until he was lost on the horizon. Elphaba turned to run back onto the shore but found that she couldn't move her feet. The water was rising all around her, swallowing her like a ravenous beast. She tried to scream but instead only took in water, choking, gagging on it. Then there was blackness._

The darkness lifted slowly, swirling and changing, but always there. She could hear voices, a voice at any rate, talking to her, urging her to come back. She tried to fight her way toward it but it felt very far off.

"Elphie…Fae, can you hear me? You're dreaming."

Elphaba opened her eyes, squinting in the dim light of the cave. Her entire body ached, and her head felt as though it had been filled with straw. Fiyero was kneeling beside her, holding her hand gently.

"Fiyero…how…" She tried to sit up and was surprised to find that she didn't have the strength. Fiyero wrapped an arm around her waist and propped her up against him. "Yero…you're…you were…sick…poisoned…how?"

Fiyero put a finger to her lips and kissed her forehead lightly.

"Elphie, calm down. That was four days ago. You've been sick too. Sweet Lurline, you scared us."

Elphaba looked around in confusion. They were still in the cave and the fire was burning in the center, just as strong as before. And it was still raining. Elphaba shuddered and Fiyero tightened his arms around her waist. She turned in his arms and managed to sit facing him.

"But…how?"

Just then they were interrupted by the sound of voices and the arrival of the others, along with a ragged-looking old man that Elphaba didn't recognize. He was small and very wrinkled, dressed in an old gray robe that looked as though it might crumble and fall off his withered old body at any moment. Elphaba wondered for a moment how long his skin would be if someone took it off and stretched it out. She tried to sit up further but failed and fell back against Fiyero again. Glinda giggled and Elphaba silently cursed her body for its weakness.

"Laughing at a sick old woman, are you?" snapped Elphaba.

Glinda fell to her knees beside Elphaba and caught her in an overly energetic hug. Elphaba winced slightly, but hugged her back. Glinda whimpered daintily and wiped at her light blue eyes.

"Oh, Elphie, we thought you were dead!" she gushed.

Elphaba smiled shyly and looked at the floor of the cave. Boq, who was now walking with a very large stick, sat down beside the two of them and put a hand on Elphaba's shoulder. 

"Group hug!" shouted Glinda.

Elphaba threw up her hands in protest.

"Whoa, whoa, contain yourselves," she muttered, blushing.

The strange man cleared his throat. Glinda sighed and sat back. Fiyero helped Elphaba to her feet and led her over to the side of the cave, where she suddenly noticed that a rather large seat had been cut out of the rock wall. She turned to the man.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously. "And what are you doing here?"

The man laughed.

"My cave it is that _you_ are standing in. Came back did I to find strange people in my cave." The man grinned a toothless grin. "Asking, you, then I am that question."

Elphaba glared at him.

"Igitur my name is," said the man, "My quest finding the Love Magnet is."

Elphaba snorted.

"Oh, that old legend. The magic stone that hung above the gate to the Emerald City that makes anyone who sees it instantly fall in love with its possessor. Another one of the Wizard's lies, if you ask me."

"Exists, the Love Magnet does," insisted Igitur. "Find it, I will." He huffed a little and puttered around the cave for a few more minutes, turning back to glare at Elphaba every few seconds. Then he pulled some herbs out of a sack and went out into the rain, muttering something about an offering to the elements.

"Well that was productive," said Glinda.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"He's insane, Glinda. He's living out here searching for something that doesn't exist. And even if it did…I don't see why anyone would want it."

"What do you mean?" asked Boq.

"Well…who would want that many people in love with them?" Elphaba shuddered. The others gave her a strange look.

"Insane or not, he did save your life, Elphie," said Boq. 

"What?"

"You were dying, Elphie," said Glinda, "somehow…somehow the combination of the poison and my sleep spell…" Glinda blushed and dabbed at her eyes again. "We were lucky Igitur showed up when he did. At least he's trained as a healer."

Elphaba sighed but said nothing. An awkward silence descended over the group. Fiyero went back over to Elphaba and sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She noticed absently that Boq, who was still sitting in the middle of the cave, quickly looked away from them and turned bright red. Fiyero leaned over and tried to kiss her, but she pushed him away. 

"Later," she muttered. Fiyero looked slightly hurt but didn't say anything.

"So…" said Boq.

"So…" echoed Glinda.

Gerema sighed and went over to poke at the fire with the toe of her boot.

"What are we going to do?" she asked flatly.

"Continue looking for Ozma, if this rain ever lets up," said Elphaba sourly.

"I think he should come with us," said Fiyero cautiously.

"Igitur?" asked Glinda.

Fiyero nodded, wincing when Elphaba turned and glared at him.

"Come on, Elphie, he saved us once…who knows what help he might be able to give us."

Elphaba sighed, the nodded reluctantly.

"All right. Just as long as it doesn't slow us down."

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	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The next day dawned miraculously blue and clear, and everyone's spirits rose at least a little. A few strange Vinkus birds were croaking in their raspy voices, the closest they could get to actual song. Boq wondered for a moment if they might not be Birds, chased out of the city by the tiktoks. Speaking among themselves in some sort of code language. He got up and went to stand at the mouth of the cave, careful not to wake the others.

It was still early, and the morning air felt like early spring rather than late summer. The weather was invigorating, deceptive though it was, and Boq felt slightly hopeful for the first time since they had set off on their journey. Movement behind him made him jump and he turned to see Elphaba standing behind him leaning against the wall of the cave.

"Good morning," he greeted. "Feeling better?"

She nodded slowly, then regarded him with an expression he could not read.

"It stopped raining," said Boq, stating the obvious. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but he suddenly felt unbearably awkward around Elphaba. He knew he no longer knew who she was.

"Yes," said Elphaba, her dark eyes boring into him. "We will have to set out again soon."

Boq sighed and forced himself to meet her eye.

"Do you really think we're doing any good out here, Elphie?" he asked cautiously, steeling himself for her response. "Couldn't we be doing more in the city? Where the prison camps are?"

"Like find your family?" Elphaba countered calmly.

"How did you know about that?" asked Boq, surprised.

Elphaba waved a hand dismissively.

"Glinda told me." She sighed. "I suppose I owe you an apology. I wasn't terribly kind the last time I saw you at your house."

Boq's eyes widened. He hadn't expected this of her. Elphaba had never been one to publicly own up to her faults. He started to reply but just then Igitur bustled out of the cave, sprinkling powdered herbs in front of him as he walked. As he passed Elphaba he paused, glared at her, and muttered something about disrespect under his breath. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Boq sighed, suddenly reminded of her daily scuffles with Avaric back in their Shiz days.

"Good morning," called Glinda, emerging from the cave and staring at Igitur who was now walking around in circles a few feet away from them chanting in a horribly flat tone. Igitur stopped, turned very slowly toward her, made a face, and then continued his ritual.

"Out of his nutshell," muttered Boq.

Glinda gave him a strange look.

"He means crazy," said Elphaba dryly without turning to look at either of them.

"Oh," said Glinda sulkily. "Well we knew that." She turned back toward the cave. "Come on, breakfast."

Boq made a face at the thought of more of the salty dried Kalidah meat.

"I think I'm going vegetarian," he muttered.

"Then you will starve," said Gerema, appearing behind Elphaba.

Boq shook his head.

"I wasn't serious."

Gerema frowned.

"You are a strange people. The Scrow do not have 'figures of speech' as you say. Either we say what we mean or we say nothing at all."

"You mean you never lie?" asked Fiyero, joining the rest of the group.

"A strange people it is that never lie," said Igitur, marching straight back through the group, still looking at the ground.

"Breakfast…" said Boq, heading back toward the cave, "lovely."

Elphaba smirked at him.

"Careful, Boq. You're starting to sound like me."

Boq clapped a hand over his mouth.

"I love Kalidah meat!" he exclaimed with too much enthusiasm.

"Is that another figure of speech?" asked Gerema.

By midmorning the Kalidah meat was devoured and most of the supplies had been packed back into the every-handy burlap sacks. The day was beginning to warm up and outside the donkeys were pawing the dirt impatiently. The only thing standing between them and leaving was Igitur, who insisted on performing some sort of fortune telling ritual which involved throwing herbs into the fire which made it spark blue and purple and give off large clouds of noxious fumes.

"What…is…that?" coughed Glinda, covering her mouth with a handkerchief.

"Tells your future the smoke does," said Igitur, inhaling deeply and sputtering. "Into the flames you look. See your future you will."

Glinda looked at him uncertainly.

"You…want me to look?"

Igitur nodded enthusiastically.

"Look into the flames each of you will. On our way then we will be."

Glinda sighed loudly and sat down beside Igitur at the fire.

"What do I do?"

"Into the flames you look. In you breathe."

Glinda obeyed, hoping that the smoke was not as toxic as it smelled. She flinched when Igitur took her hand.

"Now what?"

"Your fortune I will tell. Riches I see. Power. In your future good things are."

Glinda pulled away and grinned, deciding she liked Igitur better than she had thought. The old hermit beckoned to Boq next, who obeyed without a word.

"Loneliness I see," said Igitur, " death."

"M-my death?" stammered Boq.

The old man shook his head.

"My family then?"

Igitur looked speculative.

"Hard to say, it is."

Boq sighed and pulled his hand back, frustrated. Fiyero went next, coughing as he got closer to the smoke. Elphaba started to intervene, but Boq stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. It was a long time before Igitur spoke.

"A…well, I see."

"A fishwell? The fishwell at Kiamo Ko?"

"No. In the city, the well is. The well I see…and…" he stopped, shaking his head. "Cloudy the image is. Go now, you must. Another's turn it is."

He beckoned to Gerema next, but she steadfastly refused, insisting that magic was not the way of her people. Igitur grumbled for several minutes about this, but then seemed to decide that the battle was not worth his while. He turned then to Elphaba, regarding her with the now-customary sour expression, as though daring her to refuse as well. To everyone's surprise, she said nothing but simply walked over and sat down beside the fire, smoothing her long black skirt restlessly. Igitur took her hand for only a second but then flinched away as if she had burned him.

"What?" asked Elphaba sharply. "What did you see?"

Igitur stared at her for a long while, his eyes wide and blank, regarding her with something akin to reverence.

"What did you see?" repeated Elphaba, more urgently.

Igitur shuddered, then cleared his throat.

"Nothing," he said unconvincingly, "nothing did I see. Black the image was."

Though the air outside was warming up for the day, it seemed suddenly that a chill had filled the cave.

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	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"It's so dusty," whined Glinda, waving a translucent pink handkerchief futilely in front of her face.

The group had been traveling since midmorning and the day was brutally hot. Elphaba had torn a long thin strip off of the hem of her dress to tie back her multitude of raven hair, and Glinda's flaxen curls were wilting, little wisps of frizz coiling off in all directions as though determined to leave her head and fly away. Chistery had opted to ride on Elphaba's shoulder rather than waste energy flying. The donkeys were panting and walking slowly their tongues lolling groundward. Only Igitur, who seemed impervious to the harsh sun and oppressive heat remained enthusiastic, pausing now and again to mutter an incantation or sprinkle some sort of herb from the inexhaustible depths of his robe pockets.

By the time the sun had crawled across the sky and made its way toward the western horizon, they had left the Thousand Year Grasslands behind. The curtain of green ended abruptly, giving way to a sapphire sky and dark, flat land stretching out to the rise of the Great Kells, looming on the horizon several miles away. The ground here was made of dark, grainy soil, pieces of rock and small boulders scattered every few inches. Rock formations rose up all over the place, casting alien looking shadows in the late afternoon sun.

"It's like…something from another world," said Boq breathlessly.

Elphaba nodded.

"It might as well be. There are still whole portions of the Vinkus that are, as we know it, completely unexplored."

There was an eerie feeling about the landscape, a feeling of something treacherous, something that wasn't as it appeared to be. It was the feeling of air just before a storm, or a strange noise in the dark, in the dead of night. The feeling of something about to happen.

Elphaba glanced around apprehensively, wishing for a place to take shelter. It would be all too easy to hide out here, she thought uneasily, what with all the protrusions of rock and perhaps any number of hidden caves. But the sun was continuing to sink lower in the sky, a burnt orange ball, vibrant against all that brown. And they would be no safer in the Thousand Year Grasslands by night.

"Stuck between a rock and a hard place," muttered Elphaba, shaking her head.

"A bad place, this is," said Igitur ominously, agreeing with her for the first time.

"There is nowhere for us to go for tonight," said Gerema, voicing the thoughts of the entire group.

"We'll just have to camp here and make the best of it," said Fiyero.

They chose a spot at the back of a large boulder in hopes of being shielded from the wind. Glinda magicked a small fire in a circle of rocks, and they all gathered around it. A cold wind was beginning to pick up despite the time of year.

"Flame fly far," said Chistery, tucking himself under Elphaba's cloak.

"He's right, you know," said Fiyero, sitting down beside her.

Elphaba looked at him quizzically.

"He's just chattering."

Fiyero looked unconvinced.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Regardless, he does have a point. Once it gets dark, our fire will be visible from far away. Especially to anyone standing on top of one of those rocks."

"Are there any native tribes out here that you know of?" asked Elphaba, alarmed.

"Not that I've ever seen. But there have always been legends, scouts that never returned. Some say this was an ancient battleground and that evil spirits live here."

"Spirits," mimicked Chistery.

Elphaba looked at him in shock.

"Chistery…you wouldn't say spirit for me before…"

"Spirits," said Chistery, louder this time. "Spirits sleep stone stir soon."

Elphaba waved the notion away, though she had to admit there was something strange looking about the dust clouds the wind was blowing up in the rapidly vanishing light. Chistery jumped from her shoulder and fluttered up to sit on top of a large sharp rock that pointed straight up to the sky like an ominous finger. He put his ear to the rock for a moment, then shook his wings out in a motion that looked alarmingly like a shudder. Igitur was uncharacteristically silent.

"We'll need to take shifts standing guard," said Elphaba, breaking the silence that had fallen.

"We have no way to keep track of time," said Boq.

"Then we'll just have to guess. Who will stand watch first?"

"I will," said Fiyero, after a moment's pause.

"And I will watch the rest of the night," said Gerema.

They got out what few blankets they had and made an uncomfortable camp on the rocky ground.

"There is a stone in the middle of my back," said Glinda loudly.

"Deal with it," said Elphaba.

Glinda sat up, looking hurt.

"I'm not used to this! All things considered, I think I've adapted glowingly well to all this…this….roughing it! I've slept in a cave, ridden a donkey, eaten unflavored meat, and walked miles in the heat. And I've hardly said anything. And now I'm expected to sleep on a pincushion and deal with it?" Glinda started to cry.

Boq sat up and went over to her. He sat down with his back to the rock and pulled her head into his lap.

"Better?" he muttered impatiently.

Glinda smiled sweetly at him.

"Much."

Finally, after more grunting and shifting and attempting to make the ground grow softer, everyone managed to fall into an uneasy sleep. As she drifted off to sleep, Elphaba had the distinct feeling that someone's eyes were on her. Someone that she couldn't see.

It was pitch-dark when Elphaba woke again. The fire had gone out, and she was entirely blind in the inky blackness. She sat up and tried to sense where the others were, but all she could feel was sand and stone and emptiness all around her.

She sensed movement just over her left shoulder and whirled toward it, but saw nothing. There was a sound of a foot slipping in the lose soil somewhere very nearby, and then the cold shock of a knife at her throat.

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	20. Chapter 19

Author's Note: I had to split this chapter in half…so if I told you something was going to happen in this chapter and it didn't…yeah, it's in the next chapter now.

Chapter 19

Elphaba froze, her pulse beating furiously in her temples. The knife dug cruelly into her throat and a drop of blood made its way down her neck in a searing line. A moment later, a pair of hands seized her roughly by the shoulders and very nearly sent her sprawling backwards. The knife was removed, thank Lurline, but it was replaced a moment later with a heavy chain wrapped around her neck and both wrists.

"Move," ordered a gruff male voice, and something hard prodded her in the back.

Elphaba stumbled forward, willing herself to remain at least somewhat calm. She couldn't see even an inch in front of her, and the ground was uneven. She had no idea where the others were and for some reason it felt as though she had been transported a long way while she slept. There was no sound except for the clink of the chain that bound her neck and wrists and the steady footsteps of her attacker, whoever he was. She stumbled over a rock and the chain cut into her neck. The foot of her attacker flew out, catching her a sharp kick to her lower back. She gasped, but managed not to cry out. Somehow it seemed that making noise would only get her into deeper trouble.

After what must have been nearly an hour more of walking, a faint red glow appeared a few feet ahead. Elphaba felt a growing sense of dread at the sight of it, though she had no idea what it might be. Her captor moved in front of her, a tall, thin shadow against the redness, and pulled on the chain like it was a leash. Elphaba gagged as the chain tightened, and stumbled into the glow.

It was as though a heat wave was radiating from whatever the light was, and Elphaba felt sweat stinging all over her skin as they approached. She shuddered at the sensation, a sickening panic crushing her chest. If it got any hotter, if they forced her to stay in this heat for any length of time…

The light got closer, and Elphaba realized that it was the mouth of a very large cave. They stepped inside and the face of her attacker became clear. She swallowed bile at what she saw, willing herself not to be sick. It was a man, or some semblance of one, though she wasn't sure it even qualified as human. It was naked, save for a piece of filthy fabric which served as a loin cloth, and every inch of its flesh was blistered with vicious burns. A pair of sickly green eyes seemed to peer out at her through the seared flesh.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, Elphaba saw that the cave was in fact a system of caves which had been converted into an entire subterranean enclave. Smaller caves had been dug into the walls like private rooms, and a huge fire blazed in the middle of the cavern. More people, nearly identical to Elphaba's captor came shyly out of the various caves, staring with a mixture of awe and horror at the newcomer to their dwelling.

"Who are you?" Elphaba asked the man, daring to speak for the first time since she'd been captured, "Where are the others?"

The man gave Elphaba a stony glare, and she swallowed hard. He smelled of decay, and something else she couldn't put her finger on. The entire cavern reeked of smoke.

"We are the Necavit. You are trespassing on our sacred land."

With that, the man turned away and jerked the chain, forcing Elphaba to follow him. He led her through the center of the civilization, past large-eyed people, all staring at her with faces full of scorn. The heat grew oppressive as they continued to walk, and Elphaba began to wonder how much longer she could hold out. She was all but blinded by cruel, biting sweat, and her knees felt weak. He came to a rough halt in front of one of the smaller caves which had been blocked off by what appeared to be iron bars. Elphaba gasped as she caught sight of Fiyero and Gerema, seated in the middle of the little cave. The man, who must be a guard, Elphaba realized now, raised the bars and threw Elphaba inside, letting go of the chain and turning his back on them. The iron gate crashed down, shaking the ground. A minute avalanche of dirt slid down the wall of the cave.

Fiyero caught Elphaba as she stumbled into the cave and nearly collapsed, wrapping his arms around her and gently guiding her down into his lap. Gerema stared raptly at the ground.

"What happened? Where are the others?" Elphaba asked breathlessly, wiping roughly at her eyes and wincing as her fingers came into contact with her own sweat.

"Easy, easy," Fiyero whispered, brushing her hands away. He took off his shirt and wiped her brow with it. "They took Boq and Glinda to another cave…I don't know what happened to Igitur. Last I saw, he was trying to convince the guards to let him make some sacrifice to them."

Elphaba nodded weakly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yero…" she whispered, "We have to get out of here. It's too hot…I can't…"

He nodded grimly.

"I know."

"Who are these people?"

Fiyero sighed and ran his fingers through her hair.

"They call themselves the Necavit…The Killed Ones. If the stories are true, they left the Arjikis a long time ago after some dispute they had with the king. They worship the spirits of a volcano out here by burning themselves in its fires as a sacrifice. I think we must be under it right now."

"We're under a volcano? Well, that at least would explain the heat…Sweet Lurline, it's so hot. There's no way to escape, is there…"

Fiyero kissed her temple.

"Shhh, Fae, you can't think like that."

There was the sound of footsteps from outside the cell, and a man taller than any of the guards and covered in black ash appeared.

"Who are you?" asked Gerema, jumping to her feet.

"I am Allifur," said the man, "Head Priest of the Necavit. You have desecrated the sacred land and angered the spirits. You must each pay with your life."

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	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"We mean no disrespect to your spirits," said Fiyero quickly. He wrapped his arms protectively around Elphaba.

Allifur glared threateningly at them, unconvinced.

"It does not matter whether your disrespect was intentional. It has been committed nonetheless. You must pay the required debt to our gods."

"What kind of gods would require the death of innocent people who simply had the misfortune to wander into unknown territory?" asked Elphaba, her voice full of accusation.

Allifur roared something in a foreign tongue and gestured to the guards. One of them pulled a chain hanging on the wall outside the cell and the iron bars lifted with a loud clang.

Fiyero made a dive for the back wall of the cell, pulling Elphaba with him. She stood unsteadily, leaning heavily against his shoulder.

One of the guards started toward them, a chained harness in his arms, and Gerema made a futile leap forward. She grabbed the chain and managed a good blow across the guard's bare back. He roared with pain and recoiled as fresh spots of red became visible through the ravaged skin on his back. Tow more guards dashed forward immediately and seized Gerema while two others took hold of Elphaba and Fiyero. Gerema did not give up however, struggling with the guards and trying to bite their hands.

"Stop," muttered Elphaba weakly, "Stop! You're only making things worse."

Gerema sneered at her.

"So you are simply going to give up? Without so much as trying to fight?"

The guards began to move, beating the prisoners mercilessly with long sticks if they didn't move fast enough. Elphaba stumbled and nearly fell, earning her a particularly painful blow across the back of the head.

"No," she gasped, "I'd fight if I could but it will gain us nothing in this circumstance."

The guards came to a halt in front of a large wall and pushed their prisoners down onto a narrow ledge.

"Do not move," said Allifur, who had been following close behind. "Or you will be the first to die."

"As opposed to…who?" spat Gerema, but she did not move. The guards turned and left, heading back in the direction of the cells.

"They must be going to get the others," said Fiyero softly.

Elphaba nodded, cradling her head in her hands. Fiyero moved to put his arm around her but she flinched away, hissing with pain.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's getting worse," she moaned, "We must be right next to the fire."

Fiyero nodded, his brow wrinkled with concern.

"It would make sense. They worship the fire spirits, it would be only fitting for them to kill us by throwing us into the fires."

The guards reappeared, dragging Boq, Glinda, and Igitur with them. Igitur was muttering incantations under his breath and Glinda was in tears. Boq was looking back and forth between them as though he was unsure of which approach to take.

"Oh just do it," Elphaba whispered. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her hands, rocking back and forth.

"Elphie, hang on," Fiyero whispered.

The guards led Fiyero, Elphaba, and Gerema up a flight of stairs to the top of the wall. Below was a sea of pulsating red-orange lava.

Allifur nodded to the guard holding Gerema, and he pushed her toward the edge. At the last moment Gerema whirled, wrapping the chain around Allifur's neck. He cried out as Gerema threw herself into the fire, pulling Allifur and the guard down with her. The lava rippled for a moment, then went still. The remaining guards just stood, staring in shock.

"Run!" shouted Fiyero. He grabbed Elphaba's hand and she stumbled, nearly fell. Fiyero turned back and lifted her into his arms, then turned and dashed down the stairs. The others had managed to break away from the guards and were already running through the underground enclave.

Miraculously, they managed to make it back up through the tunnels and into bright, searing daylight. There was so much chaos below that none of the guards were even close behind them. Fiyero made it out first and paused to wait for the others, blinking quickly in the daylight and trying to reorient himself to the world above. It must be early morning, he thought, for they couldn't have been underground for more than several hours. It was blessedly cool and clear outside, though they were still in the strange-looking desert portion of the Vinkus. Elphaba lay unconscious in his arms. Fiyero swallowed hard and pushed the panic to the back of his mind. This was not the time or place.

"What are we going to do?" asked a breathless Boq as he and Glinda caught up and came to a halt beside Fiyero. Igitur was continuing to shuffle along behind them.

"Make a run for the Thousand Year Grasslands," said Fiyero after a moment of thought. "They worship the fire spirits here…if I'm remembering the legends correctly, and if they're true, they won't follow us out of their land."

"Let's hope for the best," said Glinda, and took off in the lead, holding her skirt up to her knees.

By the time they stopped on the very edge of the curtain of grass it was dusk and everyone was exhausted after their sleepless night and day of traveling. Glinda magicked a small fire on the ground and Igitur and Boq wandered off in search of water. Elphaba began to stir a little, and Fiyero tucked a blanket around her on the ground. Chistery, who had rejoined them during the afternoon, hovered over Elphaba, playing with the ends of her long hair.

"Elphie?" Fiyero whispered, brushing the back of his hand along her cheek. She shuddered a little under his touch but didn't wake up. "Elphie, please, please come back to me…" He turned away, biting his lip hard.

"Fiyero?" Glinda sat down beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What?"

"Just…don't worry. She's stronger than that. She's been through much worse."

Fiyero nodded slowly.

"I know…it's just…it's so hard…not knowing for sure."

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	22. Chapter 21

Author's Note: A huge thanks to Drew for putting up with my rambling for three hours the other night and helping me finish a plotline for this monster of a fic. The good news is, this fic actually will get finished now, cuz I'm not just randomly sticking in whatever comes to mind and hoping to god that I can get them out of it. It's a little more than halfway done now, and I already have the epilogue written…have for months now. Oooh, you guys are so gonna hate me! ::smiles conspiratorially at Liv and Drew::

Chapter 21

"Witch? _Witch_? Witch watch wind weave!"

Fiyero awoke to the sound of Chistery's petulant voice and opened his eyes a crack, wincing even in the dim light. He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep the previous night, but evidently they all had, for it was light now. Glinda was lying curled in a ball, her once-pink skirts darkened by red sand stains and spots of ash. Boq was muttering and thrashing in his sleep, coming dangerously close to kicking Igitur, who had somehow managed to fall asleep sitting up. The wind was indeed blowing hard, making the blades of grass look like a rippling, roiling sea of green waves.

"Sleep well?"

Fiyero jumped and turned to see Elphaba sitting on the blanket behind him, Chistery perched happily on her shoulder. The monkey was tying little sections of her long hair in knots and looking extremely pleased with himself, flexing his long wings and bobbing up and down every so often.

Fiyero got to his feet and went over to sit beside Elphaba, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her down against his chest. She kissed his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, and he fought back tears.

"Elphie…Fae, are you all right?"

She nodded weakly and pulled away a little so she could see his face.

"What happened…how…where are we?"

Fiyero sighed heavily and plucked a blade of grass near his left hand. He wrapped the long green strand around his hand in different patterns for nearly a whole minute as though mesmerized by it.

"Fiyero?"

He tied the long green string into a loop knot and pulled his hair back with it.

"We managed to escape from the Necavit. I think we're in the Thousand Year Grasslands, though I'm really not sure which part. Navigation was the last thing on my mind last night."

Elphaba nodded grimly.

"And is Gerema…?"

Fiyero sighed again.

"Yes. She…I guess you could say that she sacrificed herself on our behalf."

Elphaba snaked her arm around his waist and laced her fingers through his.

"Pity. That woman had resolve…Attitude issues, maybe, but she did have potential. We're going to miss her, later on at least."

Fiyero grimaced.

"I have a feeling it'll be sooner than you think."

"Meaning…?"

"It's been a long time since I've been in out in the Vinkus. A lot has changed. She was more valuable for survival than you could imagine. And I meant it when I said I didn't know which part of the Thousand Year Grasslands we were in. I've never been in this far before, and they go on for miles."

"So you mean we're really lost?"

"Yes. It's possible to go on for weeks without finding food or water. There have been countless hunting parties who have gotten lost out here and starved to death in the grass."

"Wonderful…" muttered Elphaba.

"Wonder wander winder," chirped Chistery, who looked especially pleased by the assortment of tangles he had created on Elphaba's head.

"You'd better watch that little menace," said Fiyero, who was only marginally amused by the monkey's antics.

"Oh, you're just jealous," teased Elphaba, who was in an uncharacteristically good mood despite their predicament. She plucked the monkey off her shoulder and tickled his belly while Fiyero scowled at her.

Fiyero leaned in and kissed her, cradling the monkey between them.

"Oooooh, looks like someone's awake!" sang Glinda in an obnoxiously high-pitched voice. The wind was whipping her gold curls around her head, giving her the appearance of an incredibly shaggy, disgruntled cat.

Elphaba and Fiyero both glared at her, but the moment was already ruined. Boq was sitting up and stretching and Igitur's eyes were open, though the old man showed no other signs of being awake. Chistery fluttered over and tapped him on the shoulder. He gave a loud shout and began swatting at the monkey as though he were some kind of especially large biting insect.

"Beast! Away you get! Pest! Kill you I will!"

"Oh, leave him be," scolded Elphaba, grabbing the monkey and setting him on the ground. Chistery scowled at her and hissed rudely.

"We don't have anything to eat, do we?" moaned Glinda.

Elphaba rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips.

"You're just as bad as Chistery, you know that?"

Glinda pouted.

"I liked you better when you were sick," she muttered.

"Children, children," called Boq, smirking at them.

"All right," said Fiyero loudly. The group turned and looked at him as though he'd just appeared out of nowhere. "We're agreed that we don't have anything to eat. In that case, sitting around here lost and starving isn't going to do us any good. We need to get moving in the hope that we can either find our way out of here or find more supplies to keep us alive until we can get out."

"Find fend food," put in Chistery. Glinda patted his head cautiously.

"Right," said Elphaba. "So…"

"Walk now, we will!" said Igitur enthusiastically.

"Which direction?" asked Elphaba.

"South," said Fiyero after a moment. "That's the direction of Kumbricia's Pass. With any luck, we'll come out somewhere near the Scrow camps."

By midmorning, the sun was beating down mercilessly, and the already starved and dehydrated travelers were on the verge of collapse. Just when it was beginning to look as though they would never come to the end of the emerald sea of grass, the tall stalks abruptly stopped, revealing the skeleton of a huge building.

"What in the name of—" gasped Glinda.

Fiyero shrugged.

"I have no idea…but…it looks new. Come on, there must be people somewhere nearby."

"And if they're hostile?" asked Elphaba.

Fiyero looked at her grimly.

"Then it's a lot better than slowly wasting away out here."

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	23. Chapter 22

Author's Note: I'm really going to try to get at least one more update on everything before I leave for New York in a week….but I'm in shows all next week so it's possible I won't. Just to let you know. TEN DAYS TIL I SEE WICKED!!!

Chapter 22

"It's…huge…" said Boq, staring at the building in awe.

Glinda snorted.

"It just looks huge to you because you're so little."

Boq glared at her.

"You're in no position to talk about height!"

"Height hit hot," said Chistery, jumping from Elphaba's shoulder to Fiyero's head.

Fiyero plucked the monkey from his head and handed him back to Elphaba, who tickled his stomach. Chistery gave a series of high-pitched yelps and wrestled himself free, hovering a few feet out of Elphaba's reach. Igitur glared at him, then knelt down and picked up a small rock. He stared at Chistery for a moment, then hurled the rock in his direction.

"Hey!" shrieked Elphaba, whirling to face the old hermit.

Chistery rolled in midair and made a noise that sounded for all the world like laughter. He flew over to Igitur and zoomed around the old man's head as if challenging him to throw more rocks.

"A pest it is!" shouted Igitur, turning dizzily in circles, trying to avoid the little beast. "Killed it will get us!"

"Stop it!" shouted Elphaba, "Stop, both of you!"

Chistery turned and nose-dived at Elphaba's shoulder, stopping just in time and landing with his arms around her neck. He stuck his head up over her shoulder and cocked his head at Igitur, giving him a condescending look.

Igitur glared menacingly and walked up to Elphaba until his face was just inches from hers. She did not flinch, but instead returned his gaze with equal steel.

"Punish it, you will!" growled Igitur.

Elphaba raised her chin, looking down at him.

"When he does something that deserves punishment I will not hesitate. Until that time, I beg you to stop provoking him. You are taking up unnecessary time with your complaining." She turned to Fiyero. "Come on. Let's go see if there's anyone around."

They ventured further out of the grass, Elphaba and Fiyero in the lead. Glinda and Boq hung back fearfully. Chistery sat on Elphaba's shoulder, preening his wings and looking quite self-satisfied. Igitur had sat down on a small mound of earth and was drawing things in the dirt with a stick and muttering irritably about Chistery being some sort of death omen.

A few yards away from the building a series of tents became visible. They were made of familiar brown linen, and looked dilapidated, almost as though they had withered in the heat of the sun. The ground here was still bone dry and cracked like old paint. It was hard and had the consistency of clay. This part of the Vinkus obviously had not had the benefit of the fierce rainstorms the group had encountered at Kiamo Ko.

"This place…" said Elphaba softly. "I've…I've been here before."

As they got closer, it became clear that the place was suffering not only from drought, but also from some sort of dreadful accident. What had appeared to have once been rows of cultivated land had been uprooted and whatever crops might have managed to grow in spite of the drought were utterly plundered. A few of the tents lay flat on the ground, and even the tall skeleton of the building was damaged.

"You there!" The group whirled in the direction of the voice. "Halt!"

A young man, hardly older than eighteen, was facing them, brandishing a deadly looking spear that was nearly taller than he was. He wore a shapeless brown tunic and had equally dark eyes and leathery skin.

"Of course," whispered Elphaba. "This is the Scrow camp. Or was."

Fiyero's eyes widened.

"You're right," he murmured, his voice tinged with a mix of awe and horror.

"Something…awful….must have happened here."

Elphaba turned back to the young sentry and raised her hands in a gesture of submission.

"We mean you no harm," she said calmly. "We are simply lost and looking for anyone who can help us."

The man narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously and swept his gaze over the group as if trying to gauge a potential threat. Finally, he took a few steps closer to them and beckoned with his spear.

"Come. I will take you to our leader."

Elphaba nodded and followed, expecting to be taken to Nastoya's cave.

"Elphie!" whispered Glinda urgently, tugging on her sleeve.

"What?" asked Elphaba, turning to face her blonde companion.

"Do you think she'll punish us?"

"For what?"

"Gerema was her daughter."

Elphaba sighed thoughtfully, then shook her head.

"When she sent Gerema with us she had to know it was risky. And besides which, Gerema sacrificed herself. It was hardly like we could have stopped her."

Glinda looked doubtful.

"Still…"

They came to an abrupt halt in front of a large tent a few feet away from the skeleton building. The young man held back the entry flap, and all but Igitur entered cautiously. The old hermit remained outside, refusing to budge from a spot on the ground that he'd found to sit on.

The inside of the tent was all but bare of any supplies of signs of life. At the very back was one rather large crate. A man made entirely of gleaming tin was seated on top of it.

"You," he said slowly, pointing at Glinda with one creaking arm. "You are in cooperation with her?" He gestured accusingly at Elphaba.

"It's not what you think," said Glinda firmly. "_She's_ not what you think."

"I know what she is!" thundered the Tin Woodman, standing up. "And her sister. If it weren't for them I wouldn't be…" He trailed off, his voice breaking as though he were on the verge of tears. "I wouldn't be…the way I am!"

"Listen to me," said Elphaba calmly, "I'm sorry for anything my sister might have done. I never meant to harm anyone."

"A likely story! And how did you fool Dorothy into thinking you were dead? Some kind of spell? Brain washing?"

"No, you colossal piece of scrap metal! And now is not the time for that. What happened here?"

"I have no reason to tell you!" retorted the Tin Woodman, enraged.

"Elphie," whispered Glinda, "let me handle this. I've dealt with him before, and I think I can get him to listen to me."

"All right," said Elphaba reluctantly after a moment.

Glinda cleared her throat and stepped forward again.

"How did you become ruler of the Scrow?" she asked gently, "Where's Princess Nastoya?"

"Enslaved by the tiktoks, just like the rest of the world!" moaned the Tin Woodman. "I liked it so much here when I was here with Dorothy, I decided to come back since there was hardly anything left of the Emerald City. When I got here I found the camp plundered by those metal fiends! The poor people were desperate for a leader so…they elected me."

"The tiktoks are trying to enslave the Vinkus now?" asked Fiyero in alarm. "I thought they were only after us."

"It's worse than even that. They've enslaved the Gale Force now, too. They couldn't take this camp in one try, but I'm willing to bet they'll try again before I can finish building my fortress."

"Listen," said Elphaba, "maybe you can help us."

"Help _you_?" snorted the Tin Woodman.

"Yes, you animated junk heap," snapped Elphaba, "difficult as that may be for your hard head to fathom."

"Elphie!" said Glinda warningly.

"Listen, we want the same thing," said Elphaba coolly. "I want to be rid of the tiktoks as much as you do."

"Oh, so you can rule? You got rid of the Wizard, now you'll get rid of them and everything will be just dandy for you?"

"No!" said Elphaba, her voice rising in frustration. "I don't want power. I just want to be able to live in peace. Is that so much to ask?"

"The wicked don't deserve peace," retorted the Tin Woodman.

Elphaba flinched visibly, as though she'd just been slapped, and the fire went out of her eyes.

"That may be true," she said softly, "but at the very least I want peace for everyone else. That's all I've ever wanted."

Before the Tin Woodman could reply, they were interrupted by the sounds of a scuffle outside. There was a loud crash and what sounded like several cries of pain. The young sentry came dashing into the tent. The point of his spear was sadly chipped, and his tunic was ripped across the front. His hair was disheveled and he was breathing hard.

"Sir, we're under attack!" he gasped.

"By whom?" the Tin Woodman demanded.

"Gale Forcers, sir. Lots of them. We don't have the forces to survive another attack."

Review please!


	24. Chapter 23

Author's Note: Okay, this is the for real last update for a while. I might be able to update while in NY, but most likely not.

Chapter 23

"Gale Forcers?" cried Glinda, her voice soaring to previously unheard pitch levels.

Elphaba stiffened visibly. She felt for a moment that she was going to suffocate as the memories of fifteen years of suffering came rushing back. The world seemed to freeze around her, and everything was quiet and cold all of a sudden, though she was sure nothing had actually changed. She spun around, half expecting to find Yackle standing behind her. There was nothing there except the door flap of the tent, moving a little in the strong wind from outside.

Fiyero laid a hand on her shoulder, and Elphaba was torn from her thoughts with a start. He met her gaze with dark eyes full of concern. His hand fell away after a second, but he gave her a little push on the back, turning her back toward the Tin Woodman, who was staring at her suspiciously.

"Friends of yours?" he asked nastily.

Elphaba gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to screech profanities at the man…whatever he was. Instead, she contented herself with giving him the most piercing glare she could muster. Chistery clawed her shoulder hard, and batted at her ear.

"What?" snapped Elphaba, turning to face the little monkey.

"Fight foul fools!" pleaded Chistery, pointing toward the door flap of the tent.

"No, Chistery, it's suicide. We can't try to fight them."

"That didn't stop you before," said Glinda, choosing a particularly inopportune moment to be observant.

"That was different."

"How?" asked Fiyero.

Elphaba turned to face them, breathing hard. She had the sinking sense that they were all about to turn on her, to force her to go out and face the Gale Forcers. Her breath caught in her throat, and she felt that she would go insane if she had to go out there, to see them, even.

"I…it…it just was," she managed, choking on her own words.

"What, you will fight for your own people, but not for mine? The Scrow are inferior? They don't deserve your protection?" said the Tin Woodman.

"Leave her alone!" said Fiyero, stepping between them.

"Oh, protecting the witch, are we now?" said the Tin Woodman.

Elphaba made a move to strike the Tin Woodman, but Fiyero grabbed her around the waist, grunting as she struck him instead.

"Hey! Easy, easy!" soothed Fiyero, as Elphaba continued struggling with him.

"Oh, a brave one, aren't you?" taunted the Tin Woodman. "Aren't you afraid she'll put a spell on you?"

"I wish I could," grunted Elphaba, elbowing Fiyero in the ribs. He gasped and stumbled backwards.

She stopped cold and rushed over to him, shocked at her own actions.

"Look," said Fiyero to the Tin Woodman and the others. "You need to go and try to protect the camp. We'll be with you in just a few moments."

Glinda nodded, and she and Igitur dashed out of the tent, followed by Chistery, Boq and finally the Tin Woodman.

"Are you all right?" Elphaba asked breathlessly when they were gone.

Fiyero stood up, clutching his stomach, and nodded awkwardly.

"All things considered, I think I should be asking you that question," he retorted.

Elphaba sighed deeply and massaged her temples.

"I…I don't know."

Fiyero came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, but she pushed him roughly off.

"This is no time for that, Yero. We're in the middle of a war zone. We stay here, we're going to get captured."

"Well, then what do you suggest we do?" asked Fiyero, frustrated.

"I don't know!" snapped Elphaba, angry her own weakness.

"Well," said Fiyero, "we have two choices. Either we can stay here and wait to be captured, or we can go out there and try to help the others fight. Why is this such a problem for you? You had no trouble with the tiktoks or the Necavit…why the Gale Forcers?"

"You even have to _ask_?"

Fiyero took her firmly by the shoulders and refused to let go.

"Elphie, I know you've been through horrible times. And I know that can't be easy. Believe me, _I do know. _But that doesn't mean you can just give up and forget what we came here to do." He kissed her lightly on the cheek, then grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door of the tent. "Come on."

Outside, the once tranquil camp had been turned to complete pandemonium in a matter of minutes. The Gale Forcers were taking no notice of which tents were already empty and which were inhabited, but instead were simply destroying any sign of civilization they could find. They were gathering the remaining Scrow that weren't killed in the course of the battle into a line and shackling them at the hands and ankles.

The Tin Woodman and the others were attempting to fight off two Gale Forcers that were trying to take them prisoner as well. There were close to forty others, and a much smaller number of Scrow.

"Come on!" called Fiyero to the others.

"Where?" asked Glinda, without turning.

"Into the Thousand Year Grasslands! They won't follow us there!"

"And give up?" cried the Tin Woodman, enraged.

"There's no way we're going to win! Come on, unless you want to get captured along with the rest of your people!"

Glinda and Boq turned and fled immediately, Igitur following a little way behind them. The Tin Woodman continued chopping at the two Gale Forcers with his axe, but was eventually forced to flee as well.

The Gale Forcers gave up pursuit as soon as they entered the first tall blades of grass, as fearful as ever.

"You know, I always wondered about that," said Elphaba absently, as they continued to watch the fight.

"What?" asked Fiyero.

"They're afraid to go in the Thousand Year Grasslands, and yet somehow they came to Kiamo Ko."

"Yeah," said Fiyero absently.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

They sat and watched in silence as the Gale Forcers desiccated the Scrow camp, completely destroying all remaining signs of life.

Review please!


	25. Chapter 24

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay…I'm in NY on vacation and have very limited internet access and almost no time to write. I did see Wicked though. Finally. It was AMAZING. Kristin was NUTS. Practically every other line was an improv, and she kept trying to crack everyone else up. She actually got Norbert in Dancing Through Life. He missed like half a verse cuz he was laughing so hard. She did this weird little high kick thing that everyone apparently thought was really funny…hmm…inside joke, perhaps? Oh, and in case anyone is wondering…Eden Espinosa is out of this world AWESOME. In my opinion, she's every bit as good as Idina, maybe better in some respects. ::hides from angry Idina fans:: I still love them both…Eden is really nice too…so's Kristin…yeah…I'll shut up now…if anyone wants more details or pics, email me. Oh and I also saw Aida and met Adam Pascal in case you didn't see on my other A/N. ::dies:: My life is now complete…

Chapter 24

"They've made a wreck of the camp," said Glinda absently as they watched the last of the Gale Forcers lead the lines of shackled Scrow out of the ruined settlement.

"Thank you, Glinda, for that astute observation," muttered Elphaba sourly. "Only I think it might be a bit of an understatement."

"Well someone's in a foul mood," said Glinda pointedly to Boq. He held up his hands as if to signal that he had nothing to do with this argument and did not in any way want to be connected to it.

"I hardly think it appropriate to attempt good cheer at a time like this," Elphaba retorted.

"Well it certainly won't help anything at all to be so negative."

"And this, coming from the woman who never stops talking about how much her feet hurt."

"I do not—"

"Everyone, please!" Fiyero interrupted, stepping between them. "Keep this up and they'll come after us."

"They'll do no such thing," snapped Elphaba. "You said yourself they're too afraid to come in here."

"And we wouldn't want them to change that all of a sudden, now would we? Besides, they've got tiktoks with them. And we've already seen for a fact that **they** are not afraid of the Grasslands."

Elphaba sighed.

"All right, conceded. But what do you suggest we do now? We certainly can't stay in this camp, and we've no supplies to last us any amount of time in the Vinkus. And it's been two days and we haven't seen any kind of animals whatsoever. We'll starve to death out here if we don't come up with some halfway decent plan."

"Decent descent descend consent," said Chistery, plucking Elphaba's hat off her head and fluttering over to the Tin Woodman who was standing several feet away staring in silence at the camp.

"Hey!" she cried, chasing after him. "Come back here!"

The Tin Woodman looked at Elphaba with what looked for all the world like disdain.

"Poor Witch," he muttered, "can't control her own minions."

"Poor Tin Man," she shot back, "can't protect his own people."

Elphaba caught Chistery and shoved the hat back on her head, clutching  the monkey under one arm.

"Dead it is," said Igitur, pointing to the camp. "Suicide it is now to stay."

"So then what do you suggest?" snapped the Tin Woodman. "I just abandon my people?"

Elphaba snorted.

"After that wonderful display of bravery you've got no people left to abandon."

"And where were you during that battle? I thought you said they were your enemies as well. What's the matter, Witch? Forget how to use your powers?"

Elphaba just stared at him for a moment in shock, then turned on her heel and stalked off, her long skirt billowing behind her.

"I have nothing more to say to you."

"Fine by me."

Elphaba pushed past the rest of the group and made it several feet off into the grass before Fiyero caught her arm, stopping her.

"Wait."

She spun to face him, angry now.

"What? I'm obviously not of any use to anyone anymore."

"So what are you going to do? Go off and find a cave to live in, like Igitur? Spend the rest of your life searching for a magic treasure that doesn't exist?"

"You'd be surprised," she muttered under her breath. "There was a time when I was ready for that."

"What?" It was his turn to look shocked, and for a moment all the life appeared to leave his eyes. "Elphie…Fae—listen to me-"

"No. You listen. What we're trying to do…what I tried to do all those years ago…it's impossible. There's too much evil in the world for a few impassioned dissenters like us to make any change worth anything. There was a time when I knew that. When I accepted it. I should never have tried again, never have listened. I'm only hurting all of you, leading you on another of my hopeless endeavors. Go back to Kiamo Ko. Stay there, in hiding. Live as happily as you can while you can. They'll leave you alone as long as I'm not with you."

Fiyero took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her, surprised when she didn't push him away.

"Elphaba, I'm not leaving you anywhere. Call me stupid, call me a fool, but I'm not. I'll _carry_ you with us, kicking and screaming if I have to. What we're trying to do may be impossible, but that's no reason not to try. You have to understand. They've slaughtered and enslaved my people, my family. At the very least, I have to go down fighting. All I have left is the will to fight. I won't give that up and wait at home in comfort to be killed." He leaned in and Kissed her, long and hard. "Now listen. Glinda has a plan."

Elphaba snorted.

"What?" Fiyero asked curiously, surprised by her sudden mood change.

"_Glinda _has a plan?" she asked incredulously.

Fiyero laughed a little at the irony of his own statement, then shrugged.

"Give her credit. Every now and then a little seed of wisdom manages to make its way through that mass of blonde curls and out into the world."

"So what is the little seed of wisdom this time?"

"Use the Tin Woodman against the tiktoks."

"What? That hunk of scrap metal? How?"

"Think about it. The tiktoks are enslaving all 'organic' beings, because they feel that machines are superior. The Tin Woodman is not organic. In their eyes—"

"He's the ideal being," mused Elphaba, catching on.

"Exactly. If we can persuade him to work with us, which Glinda believes she can—"

"He could work as a double agent! Brilliant!" She whirled back in the direction of the others, then stopped for a moment and turned back.

"What?" asked Fiyero, concerned.

Elphaba shrugged, at a loss for words.

"Nothing. It's just…how did _Glinda _think of something like that?"

"It's just like you said all those years ago at Shiz. Glinda is perfectly capable of thinking, provided that _she thinks _she can think."

"I said that?"

"Well not in as many words, but—"

"Oh, good. For a moment there I was afraid I might be losing my ability to articulate a thought."

Fiyero rolled his eyes at her.

"Perhaps. But never that razor wit of yours."

"Come on." She grabbed his hand and steered him back in the direction of the camp. "Let's go see how Glinda's doing against the walking trashcan."

Review please!


	26. Chapter 25

Author's Note: Okay, I'm officially really really sorry that this has taken so long. I'm in a writing class, so by the time I get done with the assignments I'm fried. And those of you who know me know that I'm working on another writing project for me at the same time, too. So…yeah…in the future it's just gonna take me longer to post. I'm sorry, but I'm a busy person and…yeah…I really hate having to say this, but it could be as much as a month between updates once I get back to school.

Chapter 25

"I will agree to help you on one condition," the Tin Woodman was saying as Elphaba and Fiyero emerged from the grass once again.

"And what might that be?" asked Glinda sweetly.

The Tin Woodman turned and glared straight at Elphaba.

"You keep her away from me!" he spat, as though even speaking about her left a sour taste in his mouth.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"As if I really care about bothering you, you great garbage heap."

"There, see?!" yelped the Tin Woodman, turning to Glinda, scandalized.

Elphaba laughed.

"Really, pay her no mind," said Glinda to the Tin Woodman. She turned and glared at Elphaba also. "Elphie, really, you must lay off on him a little."

Elphaba shrugged noncommittally.

"Elphie—"

"All right, all right, can we please just get on with this?"

"Agreed," muttered Fiyero, earning himself an acid glare from Elphaba.

"So," said Glinda, attempting to get the group's attention.

"So sew sue," said Chistery.

"Hush you will," said Igitur irritably to the monkey.

The monkey harrumphed quietly and began to groom his wings, looking uninterested.

"So," said Glinda again. "Now that we've agreed to cooperate…" She turned to the Tin Woodman. "Do you have any news from the Emerald City for us?"

Boq perked up a little at the possibility of news of his family. Igitur sat down on the ground and began pulling herbs out of various pouches and pockets, looking bored. The Tin Woodman glared at him, hurt.

"Don't mind them," Glinda encouraged.

"Well…well, all right then," said the Tin Woodman, sounding almost shy for a moment. "I have news, but much of it is not good news, and the good news that there is is small comfort compared to the bad."

"Oh just spit it out," muttered Elphaba, looking at the ground. "We can handle a bit of bad news."

"See?!" said the Tin Woodman, looking at Glinda like a small child trying to tattle on a classmate.

"I'm not your mother," muttered Glinda, beginning to lose her patience. "I can ask her to leave you alone, but we can't keep her in solitary confinement just because you're not fond of her. After all, she was leader of this group before you showed up. Still is, really. You just happen to have the spotlight for a few precious moments by necessity of your information."

The Tin Woodman grunted in agitation, and it looked for a moment as if he were about to stalk off in a rage and leave the group behind. But then he decided better of it and turned back as though physically shaking off Elphaba's insults.

"The Emerald City is now completely under control of the tiktoks. All civilians and Animals have been taken to work camps either in the Quadling Ruby Mines, or in the outer deserts. The Gale Forcers, as you have seen, have been enslaved by the tiktoks. For now, they are leaving the animals alone, as they have no way to control them. However, I have heard rumors that they plan to eradicate all living beings from Oz."

"So the entire city is machines now?" asked Fiyero.

"Except for the resistance," said the Tin Woodman, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Resistance?" asked Elphaba, her interest sparked.

The Tin Woodman nodded.

"They're a group of young people, really. Teens, and a very few adults. Rumor has it they were originally a group of royalists dedicated to the return of Ozma, but now their mission is simply to fight off the tiktoks before all organic beings are enslaved."

Elphaba stood up, suddenly energized.

"Do you know where they are?"

"I'm not going to tell _you_," retorted the Tin Woodman smugly. "You'll just go and put them in some kind of trance and make them your slaves like you did the Winkies."

Fiyero flinched visibly at the word "Winkies." Elphaba remained unperturbed.

"But you do know where they are?"

"You're not going to use your powers to get it out of me! My lips are sealed! I'll rust them together if I have to!"

"Thank you," said Elphaba simply, smiling. She motioned to the rest of the group. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be back in a few minutes after we discuss this."

"What?!" yelped the Tin Woodman. "What are you thanking me for? I didn't tell you anything!"

Elphaba led the group over into the grass, out of earshot of the Tin Woodman.

"You have a plan?" asked Glinda.

Elphaba nodded.

"If things have really gotten as bad as he says they have in the Emerald City, we don't have time to waste wandering around out here getting captured by every native group of people, trying to find Ozma. We need to go to the city and join up with this resistance force, if we can."

Fiyero nodded in agreement.

"Now we know the answer to Gerema's question. Perhaps five people and a monkey are simply not enough to overthrow a government, especially one of practically immortal machines. But five people and a monkey can find more people with the same cause, and convert more people to that cause. And pretty soon that five people and a monkey is enough."

"Wow," said Elphaba, laughing.

"What?" asked Fiyero.

"If it comes to an election to find the next ruler of Oz, you should definitely run. That was a good political speech if I've ever heard one."

Fiyero laughed.

"All right. Shall we go get our metallic friend?"

Elphaba grinned.

"Yes. We've no time to waste in reaching the city."

Review please!


	27. Chapter 26

Author's Note: Okay, so I realize I've been neglecting this fic lately. I've been really preoccupied with stuff from my writing class. In a good way. And school starts again in two weeks, so who knows what that'll do to my ability to update. Still, I'm going to spend the next two weeks trying to get as close to the end of this fic as possible. Not that it'll be finished anytime in the near future, but at least I'll have it written. It's a little more than halfway right now, and it's about to pick up a lot. Severe angst warning coming in the next few chapters through the end. You guys are all gonna hate me…I'm gonna wake up one morning with a mob of angry fanfic readers on my doorstep…I can feel it coming.

=P Michelle

Chapter 26

They spent the next few hours rummaging through the wreckage of the camp, looking for any supplies that might be of use for the journey. They were still a long way away from Kumbricia's Pass, and it was already late summer. They would have to travel quickly or they would risk getting cut off from the outside world by early fall storms in the Great Kells.

Several times during the process, the Tin Woodman started to cry over his lost city, coming dangerously close to rusting himself irreparably.

"Stop it you soft-hearted tin can," snapped Elphaba as the Tin Woodman began to whimper over a collapsed tent once again. "There's no oil out here and if you rust, we won't have you to help get us back to the Emerald City. And we need you to help us get back."

The Tin Woodman looked at her smugly.

"Oh, now the Witch needs something from me. This changes things, now doesn't it, Witch?" He dried his eyes, all traces of sadness replaced by contempt. "I'm willing to bet you could magick me some oil if I really needed it."

"Then you'd lose that bet," muttered Elphaba, pulling a few packs of the Scrow wheat crackers and some skins of water from the wreckage. "Do you think I'd be digging through this garbage looking for supplies if I could just magick whatever I needed?"

The Tin Woodman scrambled for an answer, but Elphaba stalked off before he could say anything further. She went over to where Fiyero was standing, sorting through what appeared to be clothing, and stood silently, looking over his shoulder. He continued sorting for a moment, oblivious to her presence, then stopped almost as though he could sense her standing there. Fiyero looked up at Elphaba and jumped a little.

"Have you practiced sneaking up on people like that?" he asked, laughing off his embarrassment.

Elphaba rolled her eyes at him.

"No, it's my natural born talent. You know, some children are beautiful, others are smart; I'm scary. It's my calling in life."

"Elphaba…"

"What? It's true. I've learned to use it to my advantage."

"Because people are naturally afraid of you, or because you feel it necessary to scare them off?"

"I don't follow."

"Are they really all afraid of you, or do you intentionally scare them off before they can get close to you? Before they can have a chance to hurt you?"

Elphaba leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his.

"Have I ever told you how irritating you are when you get philosophical?"

"A few times, I believe. Unfortunately my natural born talent happens to be forgetfulness. Especially when it comes to your lectures."

Elphaba glared at him for a moment, then shook her head and walked over to where Glinda was standing talking to the Tin Woodman.

"Are we ready?" she asked impatiently.

Glinda looked up and sighed.

"Don't you start that again."

"I'm not starting anything! I simply think we need to stop looking through this useless wreckage and get moving. We're not going to find much else of value, and food will be no good to us if we freeze to death. We've already seriously lost track of time. We haven't a minute to waste."

The Tin Woodman looked at her grudgingly.

"Unfortunately, in this case, she happens to be right," he muttered conspiratorially to Glinda, as though Elphaba couldn't hear him if he lowered his voice.

"This would be a lot easier if we still had those donkeys," said Boq, who was sitting on a fallen log nearby.

"I thought you didn't like them," said Elphaba, sitting down beside him and watching Igitur, who was picking flowers a few feet away. Chistery fluttered over and landed on her shoulder, proudly showing off a handful of clay beads he'd found.

"I liked them," said Boq. "They just didn't like me."

"Oh. I see." Elphaba took the beads from Chistery and examined them. "They're beautiful, Chistery. Thank you."

"Beauty beaty batty," said Chistery, very pleased with himself.

"Conceited, it is," said Igitur, pointing at Chistery as though examining some very disgusting thing he'd just found on the bottom of his shoe.

"Leave him alone," snapped Elphaba. "Between you and that huge piece of scrap metal, I'll be lucky to keep my sanity by the time we get back to the Emerald City."

"If we get back," muttered Boq.

"When we get," corrected Elphaba.

"_When _we get back, we'll still have to get past the tiktoks. The world is ending, Elphaba, don't you realize that? There's nowhere for us to go."

"Don't talk like that," said Elphaba sharply. "That won't get us anywhere." She stood up and brushed off her skirts. "Come on. Let's go. We have a long journey ahead of us."

The journey out of the Vinkus was long and tedious, as they were traveling on foot, but blessedly uneventful. On several occasions they spotted parties of Gale Forcers and tiktoks heading for the Vinkus, but the rocky landscape provided ample shelter, and they managed not to be spotted.

Several weeks into their journey the rain storms began to become fewer and fewer, and the drought returned, much to Elphaba's relief. Having to stop and take shelter for the greater part of the afternoon and evening was greatly increasing their traveling time. And the storms had a nasty way of sneaking up on them when they were out in the open. Boq took to saying that the sky was only blue because it was so full of water just waiting to cascade down on their heads.

Soon the rain was replaced by cold winds, and Glinda magicked fires by night in a feeble attempt to keep the group warm. The Tin Woodman, of course, didn't have to worry about things such as temperature, except when the air became so damp it made his joints rust and stick. Glinda seemed to adapt more to the conditions they were traveling in than before, her spirits remaining high, and the frequency of her complaints decreasing. Igitur, on the other hand, had taken Glinda's place as the group's biggest whiner. The only times he wasn't complaining about his aching joints or his pounding head were when he was either asleep, or in one of his periods of long meditation. Fiyero made a game out of it, challenging the others to come up with subjects to ask Igitur to meditate on.

Chistery was the only one who seemed wholly unaffected by the weather and the landscape; he flitted around during the day, sometimes soaring as high as six feet over Elphaba's head. He seemed to love the sense of freedom traveling gave him, exploring new things and learning new words at an astonishing rate. Elphaba was overjoyed at his progress, constantly wishing she had a notebook, or some means of recording his progress.

At last one morning, they stumbled across a damaged and overgrown portion of the Yellow Brick Road in the underbrush.

"That's a good sign," said Glinda. "That means we have to be close to the city."

"Closer to death now, we are," muttered Igitur.

"Oh, stop being so depressing," chided Glinda.

"Coming from the former whining queen," said Boq.

"Hey! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Quiet!" snapped Elphaba. "If we're close to the city, there are probably spies around here somewhere. The last thing we need is to get captured because you three are too busy yammering to look around."

Fiyero nodded, but said nothing. Elphaba turned to the Tin Woodman.

"So. We're here. Take us to the Resistance."

The Tin Woodman shook his head.

"No can do, Witch. How do I know you're not going to mutilate them like you did those monkeys of yours?"

"I give you my word that she will cause them no harm," said Glinda solemnly.

The Tin Woodman looked at her doubtfully, but then nodded. He led them around the back of the walled city, to an area that looked vaguely familiar.

"How are we going to get in?" asked Fiyero. "The walls go all the way around."

"I expected better of you, Winkie," said the Tin Woodman. "The walls went all the way around when there were people to maintain them. Repairing city facilities is not exactly paramount on the tiktok agenda."

"What are you saying?" asked Elphaba.

But the Tin Woodman only held up a hand for silence and led them toward the wall. He reached out and did the impossible. He peeled back an entire section of the wall. Elphaba gasped as she realized what she was seeing.

There was a gaping hole in the wall, big enough for a fully grown man to pass through without stooping, covered over only in thick canvas which had been painted to camouflage with the green bricks.

"It's brilliant," she murmured.

They entered through the hole in the wall, looking around fearfully for any amount of tiktok activity. The city was deathly still. They were in an area that had once been a city slum; it was now simply a ghost town. Elphaba looked around, expecting to see street dealers offering illegal wares, or hungry children standing on corners begging for food. There was nothing. The city appeared to be completely devoid of life. Not even the air was moving. Elphaba looked at the Tin Woodman; she didn't dare speak. It felt as though breaking the silence would be somehow taboo.

The Tin Woodman took the lead, creeping silently through the street, keeping close to the deserted buildings. The houses were oddly dusty, and the whole city had a grayish cast over it, muting the usual vibrant green. It looked like it was slowly decaying, thought Elphaba. She was relatively certain this part of town was where she had once lived. She shivered despite herself.

The Tin Woodman came to an abrupt halt in front of one of the buildings; the rest of the group nearly collided with him. It was a small, crumbling building that looked as though it might once have been a flower shop. There was a withering bird's nest in the eaves; the straw was falling down like hair off an old man's head. The green paint was peeling, and the door had fallen off, leaving the building open to the elements. They went inside, breathing in the pungent smell of mold and decay. There were some organic looking masses on the floor that might once have been flowers; they were covered in hairy looking gray mold. It was hard to believe that this shop had contained life only weeks before.

The Tin Woodman stopped in front of a wall and knocked on it. Elphaba was surprised when it didn't fall in. After a few moments, an entire portion of the wall swung back, revealing a hidden door. A young man, probably no older than sixteen or seventeen, stood in the doorway. He was slightly overweight, and looked at them uncertainly, shyly. Elphaba stepped forward and he gasped.

She stood looking at him for a moment, as though trying to decide whether she had at last lost all sanity. Then finally she took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"Liir…"

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	28. Chapter 27

Author's Note: Dear readers, I am now faced with a dilemma. As of this chapter, there are approximately ten chapters to the end of this fic. So I am definitely going to finish it by the end of summer. Here's the thing. I'm not sure how much writing I'm going to be able to do once school starts. So either I can stretch out the updates of this fic until I can get another good one going (I think the next fics I'm going to work on really developing are Straw Into Gold and A Fine, Fine Line), or I can continue posting this as I write it and then just see how often I can update the new ones. Let me know what you think.

I'm gonna cry when this is over…

=P Michelle

Chapter 27

"You…" gasped Liir, breathing unevenly. "You came here to turn us in to them, didn't you!" His voice was hard, full of hatred.

Elphaba shook her head, tears burning her eyes. She knew she had to say something, to explain herself and this strange boy to the group somehow, but nothing came. She felt as though a vice was crushing her throat, stealing the air from her lungs.

Liir turned to the Tin Woodman, glaring.

"I trusted you," he growled. "I never thought you would betray us."

"She swore!" protested the Tin Woodman, pointing rudely at Glinda.

"I'm not here to turn you in," managed Elphaba finally. "I'm here…" She cleared her throat and forced herself to swallow, wincing at the pain. "I'm here to ask for your help."

For a moment, it looked as though Liir was going to pass out. He swayed unsteadily, grabbing onto the doorframe for support. Elphaba took the opportunity to glance back at the others standing behind her. Fiyero was watching her, his dark eyes filled with concern. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. This was her worst nightmare being played out in broad daylight.

Footsteps in the hallway behind Liir seemed to startle him; he tore his eyes away from the group long enough to turn around and look at the person approaching from behind him. A very tall, very thin girl appeared in the doorway, looking at the group uncertainly.

"I know you," said the girl softly, her voice tinged with awe.

"Nor?" asked Elphaba uncertainly after a moment.

The girl nodded, and Elphaba heard Fiyero gasp. She didn't have the strength to turn around and face him.

"Nor, please believe me when I say we're not here to harm you in any way," said Elphaba in a rush. "We're here because we want to help you…and we want your help too. Someone has to stop the tiktoks and—"

Nor held up a hand for silence.

"I believe you. Come in before someone out on the street hears you." She moved aside and beckoned them through the doorway. Liir remained where he was, staring at them as though in a stupor. "And don't mind him," added Nor, gently steering him away from the door.

Elphaba followed Nor into the hidden room; it felt as though she was walking in a dream. The dim light made the floor one dark mass, and she felt as though she was floating, or living in someone else's body. Everything was completely surreal.

The room was small; they had to press against the walls in order to fit the entire group into the room. The walls were covered in wood paneling, as was the floor. It was only in slightly better repair than the outer room. Nor swung the secret door shut and moved into the center of the room, kneeling. Elphaba watched as she felt around for a few moments, then pulled up a trapdoor in the middle of the floor. The trapdoor revealed a long spiral staircase twisting and turning down into a maze of tunnels and secret rooms below. Suddenly Elphaba recognized it as the building where she had met with her superiors to plot the Wizard's demise all those years ago.

The staircase led down into a system of tunnels that had once been the home of Oz's largest criminal organization. Before the Wizard had arrived and kicked the Gale Force into shape, forged emeralds had been a large part of the economy in the capital. Countless unsuspecting Emeraldites had lost their money for the best fakes the land of Oz had ever seen. After the Wizard's arrival, the Gale Force had arrested the criminals and sealed the entrance to the factory. Or so they thought. That was, until it was reopened in secret by the Resistance.

Directly at the base of the stairs was one large room with a dirt floor and stone walls. At the far end, the room pinched off into a long, narrow hallway with individual rooms branching off of it. The room was empty of any furniture except for a few crates and a chair with a broken back. Nor led them through the room and down the hall to the place where it ended in a wall of solid stone. She gestured to three open doorways that appeared to be bedrooms.

"I think it's best if we don't really talk until tonight. There will be a meeting later. Until then…you can have these three rooms. I trust you can arrange yourselves."

Liir, who had followed the group down, was staring at Elphaba with a mixture of hatred and sadness. She took a step toward him, opened her mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come. Nor stepped between them.

"Later," she said, and her voice held a note of such finality that neither of them protested.

Nor laid a hand on Liir's shoulder for a moment, then steered him back down the hallway. The group split themselves up into the three rooms silently. Elphaba and Fiyero in one, Glinda and Boq in another, and Igitur by himself, because no one wanted to tolerate any more of his whining. Sometimes it pays to be irritating, thought Elphaba as she followed Fiyero into their room. He turned back and closed the door behind her, then crossed over to the bed, covering his face with his hands.

Elphaba stood across the room, uncertain as to what to do. She wasn't sure how much he knew or how he would react, but she wanted nothing at the moment but to be away from him. And that, of course, was impossible.

"Fiyero…" she started, but then trailed off when no further words would come. He looked up at her for a moment, dark eyes shining, and Elphaba realized that he was crying silently. A pang of guilt gnawed at her stomach. The last thing she had wanted was to hurt him more than she already had.

"Elphaba," said Fiyero at last, his voice strained with emotion. "Nor…is she.."

Elphaba nodded quickly.

"Your daughter. Yes."

Fiyero rubbed a hand over his eyes, as though trying to wake himself from a dream.

"And the boy, Liir?"

He knows, she thought silently. Elphaba swallowed hard and hoped that he could find the strength that she lacked. The forgiveness that she lacked. How could he possibly forgive her when she still could not forgive herself?

"Our child," she managed at last, the words barely more than a strangled puff of breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly, in a voice that she couldn't read.

"I thought…I thought he was dead. I thought they both were."

Fiyero stood and walked a few steps toward the wall, then stopped. His dark eyes were ablaze with a fire of emotion that made Elphaba's heart fly to her throat. She had never seen him truly angry and never wanted to.

"You still should have told me." His voice was filled with resentment. Elphaba's temper flared.

"Told you what? That you weren't there to protect your children and so they were taken? That I spent eight years of my life trying to rescue your family, only to find that I couldn't do it?" She advanced toward him slowly, dangerously. He faltered for a moment, sadness replacing his anger.

"Elphaba, this isn't about blame," said Fiyero softly.

She faltered, unsure of what to say. Her temper was still blazing, but he had given her nothing to fuel an argument.

"Oh no? Then what is it about?" she asked at last.

Fiyero studied her for a moment, then looked at the floor.

"Guilt," he said finally.

Elphaba cocked her head.

"Mine or yours?"

"Both." He retreated back to the bed and sat down on it, shaking. "I'm sorry, Elphaba. All the time you were so worried about hurting me, and I wouldn't listen. I never thought about what it would mean to others if I was captured…if I was killed. I was so blind…I'm sorry." Fiyero turned away from her, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Elphaba crossed to the bed and sat beside him, then roughly took him in her arms, ignoring the slight sting of his tears against her skin. She had always thought it strange that her own tears burned her more than those of others.

"When I was in the mines," said Fiyero, his voice muffled against Elphaba's neck, "all I could think was that I would never know if you could forgive me. For following you. For breaking my promise."

"Yero, you fool," she murmured, kissing his forehead. "You're the only one who's ever followed me. I run away from people and they let me go. But you won't. I think that scares me more than anything."

Fiyero kissed her long and hard, then stretched out on the bed, pulling her down on top of him. Elphaba moaned softly and snuggled closer to him. It had been entirely too long since they'd had any amount of privacy.

"I'm scared, Elphie," he said after a moment. "The world as we know it is coming to an end and sometimes…sometimes I wonder why we bother fighting."

"It distracts us," muttered Elphaba, running her fingers through his long hair. "We're afraid and so we fight. We know it's useless and yet it's still less frightening than sitting around waiting for the end to come."

Fiyero wrapped his arms around her and rolled over, pinning her beneath him. He kissed her again, leaving her breathless.

"I've had dreams," he continued, gasping as she slipped her hands under his shirt. "I'm afraid I don't have much time left." He shuddered.

"Then let's not waste any of it," Elphaba muttered grimly, then leaned up and kissed him.

Later, as they drifted off to sleep, Elphaba thought she could heard a heavy, rhythmic pounding on the roof, though she knew they were underground. It was like rain, or running feet, or waves crashing against a dam. She closed her eyes and for a moment she was staring into the fishwell at Kiamo Ko. A pair of huge golden eyes stared back.

"I'll be seeing you soon, dearie," rasped a familiar old voice.

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	29. Chapter 28

Author's Note: Ok, so I split this chapter in half because…well, I'm sad to see my precious baby of a fic almost done. So please excuse the shortness in comparison to other chapters. I may not be updating for a while, because I'm going to the beach for the weekend. WOOT!

Chapter 28

_The golden carp was staring at her from the bottom of the fishwell. It was crying, Elphaba realized suddenly, though she hadn't known that fish could cry. There would be no way to see a fish's tears underwater. Then all at once she realized why. There was no water in the well. The carp must be suffocating. It was crying for help._

_Elphaba hesitated for a moment, then reached toward the carp, although she did not know what she intended to do to help it. If there was no water in the well, then there was no water anywhere nearby; still, she could not stand idly by and watch an innocent creature die. _

_Then suddenly something was pulling her in, and the water was bubbling up from the bottom, engulfing her head first. She tried to scream, but only managed to take in mouthfuls of the awful substance, choking on it as it burned its way down her throat and all over her body. Then suddenly she was through, and back in her tower room at Kiamo Ko. Yackle was sitting on the bed._

_"Now now, getting careless, dearie," said the old woman in that familiar cracked voice. _

_"I couldn't…I couldn't let it just die," gasped Elphaba, still unable to catch her breath._

_"Strange," said Yackle thoughtfully._

_"What?" asked Elphaba defensively._

_"You'd risk your life to save a lowly animal, and yet innocent people getting killed in your schemes are just the price of revolution."_

_The water returned, bubbling up from the floor boards. Elphaba tried to run, but found suddenly that she was unable to move her feet. She stood thrashing desperately as the liquid overtook her. She hated feeling powerless._

Elphaba woke with a start at a knock on the door; she was drenched in her own sweat and it felt as though she had just bathed in acid. For a moment she was disoriented, feeling as though she had been awakened in the middle of the night, but of course it was only now evening. The meeting. Of course.

She stumbled out of bed and grabbed a towel, drying off quickly and pulling on a spare robe. Fiyero was still asleep somehow, exhausted by the afternoon's emotion. Elphaba went to the door and opened it quietly, stepping out into the hallway. Nor was waiting there patiently.

Elphaba studied the girl for a moment, realizing that she'd never really looked at any of Fiyero's family before. It had seemed somehow forbidden to her during her days at Kiamo Ko, as if getting to know Fiyero's children would somehow deepen the damage she'd already done. Nor had grown pretty in a wiry sort of way; she had regained some of the weight she had lost during her years as the Wizard's prisoner, but she was still very thin. Her skin was the color of molasses, and her hair and eyes were the classic midnight black of the Arjikis. Her face was long and narrow, with high, prominent cheekbones that gave her something of a regal appearance. She looked much older than eighteen, her face and eyes hardened by years of horror.

"He's my father, isn't he," said Nor after a moment, nodding toward the closed door to their room.

Elphaba was taken aback by the girl's perceptiveness. As far as she knew, Fiyero had not seen his children since they were very young. She nodded slowly.

"How did you know?"

"Mother had a family portrait painted when I was born. It used to hang over the fireplace. She took it down and burned it when the news arrived that he was dead."

Elphaba looked at the floor, unsure of what to say.

"It was you, wasn't it?" asked Nor. "He was staying in the city for you."

Elphaba nodded again, feeling oddly numb. The air felt stale, too still. For a moment Elphaba thought she could feel electricity crackling through it, like the calm before a storm. There was something about this girl that had always unnerved her.

"I'm sorry, Nor," said Elphaba finally, gritting her teeth. She hated apologies; they sickened her.

Nor dipped her head in a single, slow bow of acceptance.

"It doesn't matter now," said Nor fiercely, but Elphaba could hear the hurt in her voice.

"Nor, it does matter," insisted Elphaba, but she was interrupted by the creak of the door opening and Fiyero emerging from the room. A series of emotions flashed across Nor's face, from joy to fear. Elphaba backed away a few steps, feeling suddenly out of place. Fiyero looked at her uncertainly, but she held up her hands signaling that she would take no part in the conversation.

Fiyero took a few steps toward his daughter, then paused. He reached out a hand as if to touch her, then quickly drew it back.

"Nor," he said softly, "I'm—"

"I know," she interrupted.

Elphaba had the sudden urge to leave them alone, but she was already too drawn in to leave.

"This…is so…strange," said Nor, her voice still filled with awe. "I feel like I must be dreaming, but then of course I can't be because…well, you're right there."

"Well, I suppose we could both be having the same dream…or I could be in your dream," said Fiyero awkwardly. "But I don't think that's very likely so…"

Nor laughed a little just to lighten the mood, but it only served to make things more awkward.

"It seems like an eternity ago that you were born," said Fiyero, staring at her distantly. "Another lifetime."

"Were you there?" asked Nor. "Mother would never tell me. She refused to talk about you after they said you were…"

Fiyero nodded slowly.

"Yes. I was there. Your mother would have liked me to stay longer but…I had business in the city and…"

"You were never happy with her, were you?" asked Nor, her voice completely devoid of emotion.

Fiyero hesitated, not wanting to anger her. Nor laughed softly, a little puff of air.

"I don't blame you," she said finally. "I would'nt have been happy with her either, if I were you."

Fiyero turned to Elphaba, as if looking for help, but she shook her head and turned away. Fiyero took a step toward Nor, moving as if to embrace her, but just then Liir came running in, panting heavily.

"They're beginning the meeting soo—" Liir broke off abruptly, looking at the three of them as though they had just emerged from thin air. "What's going on here?"

Elphaba took a deep breath and faced her son.

"Liir, meet your father," she murmured; it was as though the words had stopped time.

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	30. Chapter 29

Author's Note: Ok, here comes the angst warning…be warned, from here on out this fic will be painful.

Chapter 29

For a moment they all just stood there staring at one another in the dingy, moldy hallway. Elphaba could feel her heart pounding in her temples, but the rest of her body felt cold somehow. Dead. Liir's eyes were wide with astonishment, with disbelief, perhaps with fear. Elphaba realized suddenly that eve after living with the boy for fifteen years of her life, she knew almost nothing about him. She had no idea how he'd react, but she had a feeling he would be angry.

"You…" sputtered Liir after a moment, pointing back and forth between Elphaba and Fiyero. "You…and he…and…" Liir clapped a hand over his mouth as though he were about to be sick.

"Liir, please try to restrain yourself," said Elphaba sternly. She was shaken enough by having to tell him; she could not deal with an extreme reaction from him.

Liir took a few deep, panting breaths, and removed his hand, seemingly a little calmer. He continued to look back and forth between Elphaba and Fiyero, utterly bewildered.

"So…so then that means that you two…if you're my parents…then you had to…_why_?"

"Liir," said Nor scoldingly. "This is hardly the time."

But Liir was still staring at them, anger replacing his initial shock. He turned on Elphaba, his dark eyes hard and accusing, full of hatred. Elphaba shuddered. She'd seen that look entirely too many times in her life.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he growled at her through clenched teeth.

"I—I thought he was dead," choked Elphaba, déjà vu sending a thrill down her spine.

"You're a liar," said Liir suddenly, "all you've ever done is lie to me! You're lying to me now, I'd bet."

"Liir, I'm not lying to you," said Elphaba, fighting to keep her voice firm. The last thing she wanted was for this to dissolve into a fighting match in front of the others.

"You are!" shouted Liir, raising his hands as if to strike her. "You're lying to me just so you can hurt me more than you already have. He's not my father. You're just saying that."

"Liir, listen—"

"I WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU ANYMORE!" exploded the boy. "You abandoned me for your own hopeless causes and now you expect me to respect you after everything you've done!"

Liir rushed forward, intending to bring his fists down on her shoulders, but Elphaba was too fast for him. She caught him by the wrists and held his hands in the air. For once her temper did not overtake her mind, and she managed to stay calm.

"Stop," whispered Elphaba, her voice practically dripping with venom. She let go of Liir ever so slowly. He was still breathing hard, but the burst of anger was gone. He stumbled as Elphaba released his hands, sagging against the wall.

"Elphie?" said Glinda cautiously, opening the door to her room a crack and sticking her head out. "Is everything all right out here?"

Elphaba glared at Liir a moment longer, then nodded.

"Everything's fine. Thanks for asking."

"Well then…in that case," said Glinda, stepping out into the hallway. "I think I have someone who's been looking for you."

Glinda opened the door a little further and Chistery poked his head out, then flitted up to Elphaba's shoulder.

"Chistery!" said Liir, who had been staring wide-eyed at Glinda.

The monkey stared at Liir in confusion for a moment, then flew over to his shoulder and began playing with his hair. The boy's gaze returned to Glinda. He blushed.

"A-are y-you—" Liir cut himself off and took a deep breath. "Are you Glinda the Good?"

Elphaba groaned, willing herself not to be sick. Glinda laughed, a silvery, tinkling sound; then nodded.

"So you helped Dorothy?" asked Liir, starry eyed.

"Liir," scolded Elphaba.

Glinda sighed and looked at the floor.

"Yes, though I can't say I'm proud of the results."

Liir blanched suddenly as though he'd just remembered. He turned and glared at Elphaba.

"How are you are you alive anyway? Or did you have more magic than you led us to believe all along?"

"It's a long story," said Elphaba, "and I don't have the energy to tell it." She turned back to Nor, then added almost as an afterthought, "especially to you."

Liir looked hurt at that and Elphaba felt guilty despite herself. Luckily the door opened again and Boq stumbled out, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Did we have to get up so soon?" he mumbled groggily, "I was just drifting off." Boq turned and glared at Glinda. "She snores something _awful."_

Glinda responded with one of her "hmph" sounds, and everyone laughed. It was a welcome break in the tension.

"Don't try to deny it, Glinda," said Elphaba nastily, "I spent two years rooming with you, remember."

"Oh, how could I forget?" said Glinda in a long-suffering voice.

Liir was looking more surprised than ever and his eyes were darting around at an alarming rate as though he was struggling to process the overload of new information. Elphaba resisted the urge to laugh at him. Somehow she did not think the others would find it quite as funny."

As if on cue, the door to Igitur's room opened and the little old man shuffled out, leaning heavily on his twisted old walking stick , and muttering about how hard the mattresses were. Chistery fluttered to the ground and started slowly creeping in the hermit's direction, but Fiyero reached down and snatched him up before the winged monkey had a chance to start any trouble. Chistery squealed loudly as Fiyero turned him on his back and tickled his stomach.

"Oh, leave the poor child alone," teased Elphaba.

All eyes immediately turned to her.

"Is that how you think of him?" asked Liir. "Your child?"

Elphaba felt her face burn. She swallowed hard, surprised to find that there was a lump in her throat. She took a deep breath and turned to Nor.

"You said something about the meeting?" she asked firmly.

Nor looked back and forth between Elphaba and Liir, then nodded. "It's going to start soon. Follow me."

She turned and walked down the hall, Liir close behind her. The others followed in uneasy silence. Nor led them down the hall until they reached the big main room. About thirty young people were seated in a rough circle. As the group entered, all eyes turned expectantly toward Nor. Elphaba realized with a shock that she must be their leader.

Nor began the meeting by introducing the newcomers. Elphaba was surprised by the girl's poise and passion as she spoke about the tiktoks and their strategy. Several others spoke, about the Vinkus, about Gillikin and how all the schools were shut down, about Munchkinland where all the crops were dying. Finally, Fiyero got up and spoke about his time in the Quadling ruby mines. When he sat down again he was pale and shaking. Elphaba wrapped an arm around his waist. Nor closed the meeting by giving out assignments to some people, then everyone went back to their rooms. Nor chased after Elphaba and Fiyero, dragging Liir by the wrist.

"Wait!" she called.

Liir looked at them sulkily.

"I have a favor to ask you."

"Yes?" asked Elphaba.

Nor took a deep breath.

"We pretty much have all the major areas covered. The only place I don't have anyone assigned to is—"

"The ruby mines," Fiyero interrupted, nodding grimly.

Nor sighed.

"I know this isn't easy. But since I know you both have been to Quadling country before…we need someone to scout it for us. That's all I'm asking."

Fiyero nodded slowly.

"If it's necessary then I can't refuse."

"And me?" asked Liir rudely.

"You're going because I think you need a lesson in teamwork." She turned on her heel and was gone.

Liir stayed a moment longer, then followed.

Elphaba turned to Fiyero. His strong jaw was set in grim determination, but she could see the fear burning in his dark eyes.

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	31. Chapter 30

Author's Note: Aerial312...thanks for catching that...::gives self strange look in mirror:: I think my hands must have been possessed...

Chapter 30

"You can have your own room now that Elphaba and Fiyero are gone, you know," said Boq.

"I know," said Glinda absently, but she didn't move.

"What?" asked Boq, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Glinda shot back rather sharply.

"Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!" she insisted.

Boq narrowed his eyes at her.

"Okay," said Glinda resignedly. "I just can't help thinking that taking their room would be…I don't know. A breach of faith, I guess."

"How so?"

"It's just…it would feel like…we weren't expecting them to come back." Her voice had a funny sound to it and Boq realized suddenly that she was genuinely concerned.

"Hey, look," said Boq with a certainty he didn't feel, "don't you think they know what they're doing? I mean, Fiyero has been there before; he's got to know something about the security. And Elphaba grew up in Quadling Country. Neither one of them is going to do anything reckless."

"And the boy?" said Glinda, getting up and pacing across the room.

Boq sighed heavily. He'd forgotten about the boy. Liir was a wildcard in a dangerous situation. Emotional, rash, and immature.

"The boy could learn a thing or two from them," said Boq with all the confidence he could muster.

Glinda sighed again.

"I hope so. I have so much left that I want to say to her…to both of them. And I can't shake the feeling that we're running out of time, all of us."

Boq nodded slowly.

"That meeting made me realize…things are worse than I thought. Much worse. I mean, I knew things were bad but I guess I just told myself that—" Boq trailed off, staring sadly at a large dark stain on the floor.

"You hoped that you would find your family and everything would go back to normal," Glinda finished for him.

Boq nodded, still staring at the floor.

"Well," said Glinda softly, "one thing's sure. Everything isn't going to go back to normal. At least not the way it was before."

"I should be getting paid for this," muttered Liir reproachfully as he slipped in a puddle of mud.

Elphaba glared at him.

"We all should be getting some kind of reward for the work that we're doing," she said darkly. "Unfortunately the world doesn't work that way. Especially now."

Liir looked ashamed and immediately feigned interest in a nearby tree. Elphaba noted silently that he hated being scolded as much as she did. She smiled a little despite herself.

"Like mother like son," muttered Fiyero so that Liir couldn't hear.

Elphaba nodded pushing aside a low-hanging tree branch.

"A little frightening, isn't it?"

Fiyero shrugged.

"Mildly."

They were trudging through the brush along the side of the Yellow Brick Road, attempting to keep out of sight as they neared Quadling country. The road had disintegrated even further now that there was no one to maintain it at all. Thick vines from the side of the road were beginning to take it over and tree roots had crack the bricks. It was the perfect environment for someone to sneak up on them. Elphaba looked around uneasily, feeling as though someone was watching her. Ahead a few feet, Liir caught his foot on a root and stumbled, cursing loudly.

"Quiet!" hissed Elphaba angrily.

"I can't help it," whined Liir.

Elphaba glared at him.

"Help it. Or I'll help you."

"Y-you w-wouldn't dare!" stammered Liir.

"We're almost there," said Fiyero before either one of them could say anything more. "It's just beyond the next clump of trees. They use the underbrush to obscure the mines. It's a perfect trap. If you keep following the road straight, you'll walk right into the swamp and get stuck in the mud."

Elphaba shuddered. She could smell the swamp in the air, now that she knew it was there. The moisture in the air burned the inside of her nose. She swallowed hard, her stomach a twisting mass of anxious knots. The swamp smelled like death. Elphaba had always hated it, from the moment her family had moved to Quadling Country, all those years ago. Filled with wet sand and dangerous, camouflaged water pits, the swamp was almost a sure death sentence for her. And now she was walking back into it. Willingly.

Elphaba shook her head at herself. Some things never did change.

"Come here," said Fiyero softly as they approached the clump of trees. He took Elphaba's arm and deftly guided her through the tangle of growth behind him, making sure to keep her clear of any water.

They stopped at the edge of the trees, still mostly concealed, but close enough that they could see. The mines rose up out of a drained portion of the swamp like the head of a giant sore. The ground, normally covered by murky water was instead exposed mud. The area looked raw somehow, as if the landscape itself was infected and hurting.

After a moment of searching, Elphaba saw where the captives were kept. A path cleared in the mud led down into what must have been a series of subterranean caves exposed by the draining of the would-be lake. Strewn through the mud were various rusted pieces of metal; they were pieces of old, damaged tiktoks Elphaba realized with a jolt of horror. It was a graveyard, of sorts. A little further off, near the mouth of the cave was a pile of bones. Human bones, she thought, swallowing bile.

The area around the swamp was a pristine forest, much different than Elphaba remembered it. There was no sign of the Quadling civilization. They must be in an unfamiliar part of the country, she thought…or else…they must all really be gone. Low hills rose up around the edges of the lake; caves were barely visible around the perimeter. Several yards away from the drained lake was the only sign of what had once been an entire village. An old, decaying stone wishing well stood, looking forlornly hopeful. Elphaba shivered at the sight of it.

"There's something in the bushes," whispered Liir, his eyes wide with fear.

Elphaba's heart sped up, but she refused to panic until she knew for sure that there was in fact a real threat.

"You're imagining things," she muttered, desperately wanting to believe it.

To her left, Fiyero shook his head. Elphaba turned to look him in the eye, and instantly she knew that Liir was not imagining anything. There was indeed something in the bushes.

It was large and metallic. And it was looking right at them.

Review please!


	32. Chapter 31

Author's Note: First day of school…yayyyy. Anywho, we're supposed to get a hurricane on Friday and I have no idea how that's gonna affect my internet access/power. So if you don't hear from me for a while…that's why. Send the hurricane go away vibes, ok?

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Chapter 31

The cell was small, cold, and dank, but blessedly free of any actual water. Elphaba had somehow managed to trod through the swamp with only minimal burns on her legs from the mud. The tiktok that had captured them was old and rusted and seemed strangely unresponsive. They had been careless and yet the tiktok had still taken a great amount of time to find them; moreover, the tiktok simply led them to a cell and locked them inside, failing to take away any of the supplies that they were carrying.

"That was odd," said Fiyero when the tiktok had gone.

Elphaba nodded, still staring down the dark, smelly corridor that the clockwork being had vanished into. They were underground, she thought with a shudder. Underground again. But not just under normal ground this time, no, they were under what was normally a lake. They were under thousands of pounds of sopping wet mud, and perhaps water. She lifted her skirts gingerly and attempted to assess the damage to her legs. The mud was caked on so think it was impossible to see through to her skin. She winced a little, then sat down against one wall, hoping Liir had not seen.

The boy was looking sullenly at his parents, as though he blamed his predicament entirely on them. Elphaba couldn't blame him. After all, he had been the one to sense their captor. She thought suddenly of her own parents, and then of Sarima and Nanny. A deep stab of guilt twisted her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Liir," said Elphaba before the she realized what she was doing. The moment the words were out of her mouth they felt wrong, like some kind of poison in the air. Liir looked up at her with eyes so full of hatred she had a nearly irresistible urge to claw them out. She was so tired of all the hatred.

"Sorry?" said Liir insolently. "For what? For getting us all trapped out here by showing up in my group and wanting to play along? Ha! That's the least of what you've done to me. And yet you say you're sorry. Of course you do. Because it doesn't matter. That's precisely why you'd say it. To win me back into trusting you so you can hurt me some more."

"Liir, I never meant to hurt you and I think you know that," said Elphaba vehemently, the words stinging like acid in her throat. "I tried to be the best mother to you that I could."

"You sure had a funny way of showing it," said Liir, his voice harsh with resentment. "If that was your best I'd hate to see your worst. Lurline, all those animals mattered more to you than any human being I've ever seen you interact with."

"That's not true!" shrieked Elphaba, surprised to feel tears burn her eyes. She took a deep breath and slumped against the wall.

Fiyero, who had been watching the exchange uneasily seemed suddenly determined to take a stand and end the conflict. He got up and stood between them, but then lost his conviction and remained silent.

"I suppose you have something to say to me too? My supposed father? The hero of war, gone missing for years, suddenly miraculously alive and with his lover. Let me guess, the two of you faked your own deaths so you could run off and be together and your families would never know. Too bad if innocent people were killed in the process; that's jus the price you both are willing to pay for true love."

"This has nothing to do with love!" said Fiyero suddenly. The moment he'd said it he seemed to regret it; he stood staring at the floor with rapt attention. The silence in the cell was deafening.

"That's not true," said Elphaba quietly. "It has everything to do with love and we all know that."

She pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily on the wall, and made her way over to Liir. She stared the boy in the eye for a moment, then hooked one finger under his chin. He flinched visibly, but did not pull away. Elphaba took a deep breath, willing herself not to look away, searching for the strength to do what she knew was necessary. Apologies were nearly impossible for her, showing affection was sweet torture. This required both. And it was years overdue in coming.

"Liir. Listen. This isn't easy for me so I am only going to say this once. I know that I was wrong then. I was so preoccupied with trying to make things right with Sarima that I couldn't bring myself to face you. Of course I should have. I know that. I can't take back the past, but I can try to make it right now. Once this is over…" She sighed heavily. "I want to be the mother to you that I couldn't be before…That is…assuming we're all still alive." Elphaba stared at him a moment longer, then leaned down and kissed him lightly on the forehead. She laughed a little, to regain her defenses. "Go to sleep, boy. We're going to have to find some way out of this mess in the morning."

Liir muttered something under his breath, then pulled off his tunic and balled it up in a corner. He cast an insolent glance at Elphaba and Fiyero as though daring them to interfere, then curled up on the ground and was snoring in moments. Fiyero crossed over and sat against the wall, opposite his son.

"You're hurt," he said softly to Elphaba.

"What?" said Elphaba, startled and disoriented.

"Your legs."

"Oh. That. I'll live."

Fiyero smiled sadly at her.

"I have no doubt you will. Come here."

Fiyero grabbed Elphaba's hands and pulled her gently down into his lap, opening the large supply pack he'd brought on the journey. He took out a tube of burn salve and began applying it to her legs. Elphaba shivered at his touch. The salve was cold, clammy on his fingers. She had the sudden eerie feeling that she was being touched by a dead man.

"What's wrong?" asked Fiyero as though he could sense her discomfort.

Elphaba tried to shrug the feeling off.

"Nothing…it's just…nothing. That feels really odd."

Fiyero nodded quickly and wiped his hands off. He wrapped his arms around Elphaba's shoulders, pulling her back against him. She snuggled against his chest, the feeling banished, at least for the most part.

"The tiktoks," said Elphaba drowsily, "they seem…dulled somehow. Not alert. I think maybe…maybe the moisture isn't good for them."

Fiyero looked at her thoughtfully, then kissed her jaw.

"It's possible."

Elphaba leaned up and kissed him on the lips. Across the room Liir mumbled something in his sleep and turned over restlessly.

"What you did…" said Fiyero uncomfortably, "I know it couldn't have been easy. But it was the right thing to do."

Elphaba laughed wryly.

"Well that's a first then." Elphaba shook her head in bewilderment. "He's just so full of hatred. It kills me to think I made him that way."

Fiyero leaned down and kissed the back of her neck tenderly.

"He's scared, Elphie. It's perfectly natural to hate what we're afraid of."

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Review please!


	33. Chapter 32

Author's Note: Sorry for the very long delay…if you haven't already heard, Hurricane Charley wreaked total havoc on Florida. I still have no power and am posting this using a gasoline generator that can run like two appliances at a time. Very RENT-ish. I do not ever want to end up living in RENT. Email me if you want my very scary story of a tree falling on my house complete with pictures…yes. It's almost scarier than this story. Ok, wait, yeah, it's lots scarier. Anywho, I've had this chapter written for a while, but I wanted to make sure I could continue with the story after this chapter. I almost dropped it. Almost. Try to enjoy…and don't tell me this wasn't predictable. What I can say is…it gets worse before it gets better. But if you stick with me to the end, I promise you won't totally hate me. Much. Four or five chapters to go.

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Chapter 32

"So much for high security!"

"Shh, do you want them to find out we've foiled their trap and come running?"

"No, b-but—"

"No buts. Be quiet. They may send a morning patrol out. They did that sometimes when…before."

"Quick, get back! One of them is coming right now!"

Elphaba woke slowly, her head clouded by remnants of a dream, though she couldn't put her finger on what the dream had been. The voices swam in her head, spinning and turning, mixing with her thoughts so she wasn't sure if they were real or some figment of her twisted imagination. She opened her eyes at last, in time to see Liir and Fiyero jump back from the door and a rather large, rusty tiktok go by. It glanced at the cell only momentarily before trundling on down the corridor.

That was strange, thought Elphaba, closing her eyes again. She knew from her days at Shiz that it took the tiktoks several seconds to process what they saw. A cursory glance like that wouldn't be enough for the guard to see anything in the cell. The moisture must be affecting them. There was no other explanation. But it was certainly something that could be used to their advantage.

Elphaba waited until the noise of the tiktok was completely gone, then sat up again and stretched. The moisture in the mines was effecting her too, she could tell already. Her head was spinning and throbbing painfully, and her skin felt clammy and sore. Her legs felt weak, and for a moment she was afraid to stand. A wave of hopelessness washed over her as she realized she was going to have to lead their escape in this condition.

"Good morning," said Fiyero brightly, pulling her to her feet. Elphaba didn't have the heart to ruin his good cheer by telling him she wasn't well.

"Progress?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"The idiots left the door wide open," said Liir triumphantly.

"Well not exactly," corrected Fiyero. "But it wasn't hard to cut through the latch with a pocketknife. I'm amazed they didn't take any of our supplies away."

"So what do you suggest?" asked Elphaba.

"If their system is still the same as it was…before," said Fiyero tentatively, "and I'm relatively certain that it is, all but a few guards will be down in the mines by now. They stay there for most of the morning. If we can find a way to distract the guards, we have a chance."

"I'll go," said Liir hastily.

"You certainly will not," said Elphaba just as quickly.

The boy had developed an alarming heroic streak overnight.

"Why not?" asked Liir. "I can do it!"

"Why not?" said Fiyero, surprising Elphaba.

She held up her hands in resignation.

"Fine then. What's your plan?"

"Send Liir out, have him make a lot of noise. I'll follow a few seconds behind and help him fight off whatever…interest he's gathered. While we keep them busy, you escape into the woods, then we meet you," said Fiyero slowly.

"And you expect me not to fight?" asked Elphaba indignantly, though she knew she was not capable.

"Elphie, not unless you have to…look, I know you're—"

"Fine!" she snapped, more firmly than she'd meant to. "Fine, if that's what you both want…who am I to stop you." Elphaba rubbed at her eyes and massaged her temples. Fiyero gave her a concerned glance and she glared at him.

"Can I go now?" asked Liir impatiently.

Elphaba looked up and down the corridor to check that it was clear, then threw up her hands.

"Fine. Go, boy. Go be a hero."

Liir opened the door, glanced back over his shoulder at them, then turned and ran down the corridor and out of sight. Elphaba shivered. She had seen fear in that last glance.

"You okay?" asked Fiyero, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. Elphaba shrugged him off.

"Yes," she said briskly. "I will be. Once we get out of here."

Fiyero nodded.

"I should go," he turned to leave, but Elphaba stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait."

She leaned up and kissed him quickly, then pushed him gently toward the door.

"Be careful."

Fiyero smiled, trying to look confident.

"I will be. See you on the other side." He turned and went out the door at a jog, and was gone.

"See you on the other side," Elphaba murmured under her breath.

She waited a few, agonizing minutes, then made her way down the corridor. She had to guess that the others had been successful since she met with no resistance. Voices came at her ears as she exited the mine into the light of day.

"Stop it, you big buffoons," shouted Liir recklessly.

Elphaba made it out of the mines just in time to see him baiting a group of tiktoks. He'd stolen several axes and was holding the rusted front panel of a retired tiktok before him as a makeshift shield.

"You can't get me," taunted the boy, and he took off toward the marshes.

There was a sharp crack of thunder overhead, and suddenly Elphaba noticed the black clouds that were blotting out the sun at an alarming rate. She clutched her cloak closer about her slender frame, glad for the hundredth time to have the extra protection.

Just then she heard shouts nearby and whirled to see Fiyero battling with a Gale Forcer and two tiktoks. He too had managed to take an axe. She took a few hesitant steps in his direction, unsteady on her feet. Something clutched Elphaba's ankle from behind and she screamed, falling to her knees, cursing as moisture from the grass burned her legs through her dress. She twisted in the grasp of her captor and managed to roll over far enough to see that it was a very large, very rusted tiktok holding her leg prisoner. She kicked out with her free leg and the thin metal arm holding her ankle snapped off. The tiktok rolled backward, protesting in a language she could not understand. Elphaba pried the severed metal hand off her ankle and threw it as far as she could. Adrenaline surged through her veins, energy she hadn't thought it was possible to muster.

Elphaba shook herself and looked around for Fiyero as the first few fat raindrops began to fall. She knew that she should find shelter, but her mind screamed that she had to find the others first. She could not abandon them if they were in danger.

Fiyero was several yards away, still fighting for his life. Elphaba stood paralyzed with fear, unable to think. As she watched, he struck the Gale Forcer a fatal blow to the side of the head, and the big man fell to the ground, writhing in agony. The tiktoks began to advance on him, unhindered by the glancing blows of Fiyero's axe on their metal housing. He backed away, looking suddenly afraid.

The rain was growing harder, and Elphaba pulled her cloak up over her head, the sting of the water on her face and hands dulling her senses. She watched the scene before her play out as if in a nightmare.

Fiyero continued to back away, unaware that he was about to come upon an obstacle: the wishing well they'd found the previous day. He hit the stone at the base of the well backwards and stumbled. The tiktoks wasted no time in plunging their axes deep into his unguarded chest.

Elphaba was snapped back into motion as something heavy collided with her back, sending her hurtling several steps forward. She turned to see Liir battling a tiktok that had no doubt been about to stab her in the back. There was another crack of thunder, and blue-white lightning shattered the sky.

"Run!" shouted Liir.

Elphaba obeyed without hesitation; the pain had become too great for coherent thought. Just when she thought she could not run anymore, she spotted a rocky overhand shielded by tress. She huddled under it, her back to the rocky wall, her knees drawn up to her chest.

After what seemed like an eternity, Liir slipped through the overhanging branches, breathing heavily. Elphaba raised an eyebrow at him, too exhausted to speak.

"They've given up. The rain finally got too bad for them. I don't think they'll follow us."

"And Fiyero?" asked Elphaba, though she already knew the answer.

Liir hung his head.

"He's…gone," said the boy, then added in a softer tone, "Mother."

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Review please! Don't kill me…yet.


	34. Chapter 33

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Chapter 33

The bed was lumpy. The bed was lumpy and the whole place smelled of old wet dead things. Boq wasn't sure why exactly this bothered him, as his home in Nest Hardings was anything but luxurious, and flooding was nearly an everyday occurrence. Besides, Munchkinlanders were famous for being able to live under harsh conditions and withstand the damp and cold. Not to mention the fact that over the last several months, this was probably the most comfortable residence Boq had had the pleasure of sleeping in. So why did the lumps in the mattress bother him so damn much? He could practically hear Elphaba's voice in the back of his mind.

_You're getting soft, Munchkin, that's what comes of spending too much time around Glinda, lovely though she may be._

Boq shook himself and kicked the bed. He blamed it for all his troubles. It must be the fact that he wasn't sleeping well at night that was making him so out of sorts. He sat back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, pocked and lined with little nooks and crannies like small creatures had been building a village on the surface. An upside down village, Boq thought. Or maybe a right side up village to them. Maybe they were looking down on him, thinking that he was a giant in the sky.

Boq gave a small, harsh laugh at his own fanciful thoughts, then sat up. This was driving him mad. He had to get out, or at least get some fresh air. Glinda had gone somewhere that morning, perhaps simply out into the large empty cavern that served as a common room, but Boq hadn't heard from her all day. He hadn't heard any noise at all for that matter. Odd. Perhaps the Resistance had had news back from one of the teams. Perhaps they were sitting in on a briefing right now.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, giving the cursed thing one more dirty look as though daring it to remain lumpy upon his return. Of course, he told himself, the bed couldn't hear him and couldn't in any way respond to his complaints. Still, it felt good to complain to something that wasn't capable of complaining back. The world needed more inanimate objects, thought Boq. They were certainly less annoying than their living counterparts.

Boq made his way out into the large common room to find that it was, as he'd suspected, swarming with people. They were all talking rapidly, in hushed whispers. The room seemed to hum with barely contained excitement and energy. In one corner, the young people were gathered around a cloaked figure. Near the center of the mass of people, Boq caught sight of Nor and made his way over to her.

"What's going on?" he asked curiously.

Nor threw up her hands and rolled her eyes in an expression that reminded Boq eerily of Elphaba. If he hadn't known better, he might have thought the two women were related.

"Someone let in this old beggar woman who claimed to have news of the world above. Now she's claiming that she can tell fortunes, that by looking people in the eye she can tell what happened to their families, to their loved-ones. It's preposterous of course, but everyone's so desperate for information…you really can't fault them for being gullible."

Boq took a few cautious steps closer to the small throng around the woman, and at that moment she raised her voice, almost as though she intended for him to catch a snatch of her conversation.

"Mother Yackle knows. She can see the truth in your pretty face."

Boq felt a twinge of panic, a sudden chill. He grabbed Nor's arm, looked up into her dark eyes.

"Please, I have to talk to her. I've met this woman before."

Nor looked frightened suddenly, uncertain. Boq was reminded with an unpleasant shock just how very young she was.

"Is she to be taken seriously?"

Boq swallowed hard, still not quite believing his ears.

"Let me tell you this. She gave me a prediction the last time I met her. It came true. I don't know how she could have known. And I know Elphaba has had dealings with her before."

Nor raised her eyebrows.

"Then perhaps I should hear what she has to say."

Nor led Boq through the crowd, pushing people aside. They didn't give her much trouble, though there were a few upset mutterings about being preempted.

Yackle looked up at Boq from under her cloak, her beady black eyes boring into him. She smiled, not nicely.

"Ah, it is Mother Yackle's savior. The boy who rescued her from those nasty children," her voice was sweet, but in a condescending way.

"Yes…uh…Mother? And uh…thank you for the uh…tip."

Yackle's smile widened.

"Mother Yackle told you it would pay off. Now. You must want to know of your family."

Boq's blood ran cold.

"Do you know anything about them?"

"Oh, Mother Yackle knows. Mother Yackle knows all. But can the Munchkin boy handle the truth?" She dipped her head beneath the cloak, almost coyly. Boq shuddered.

"It doesn't matter. I need to know."

Yackle nodded.

"They're dead. All of them. Tortured to death in one of the work camps."

Beside him, Nor stiffened visibly, but Boq only nodded. It had been far too long to hope. His fear and sadness regarding their disappearance had been replaced by an ugly gray numbness long ago. Perhaps after everything was said and done, after there were no more battles left to fight, he would feel the pain of their loss. But not yet. There were much more important things to focus on at the moment.

Yackle turned her attention to Nor.

"And you. You girl. You want to know how to defeat those nasty tiktoks."

Nor nodded eagerly.

"Is there really a way?"

Yackle cackled loudly, scoffing.

"Silly girl. There is always a way. It is nothing more than a matter of morals. What you are willing to do to have your way. Someday, when you are as old as Mother Yackle, perhaps you will see that."

Nor took a step forward, refusing to lower her gaze.

"Then what is the way?"

"It is simple really. Quite pathetic. The tiktoks may seem invincible, but they really are not very good strategists. They take their strength through fear. Once you lose your fear of them, they are not nearly so daunting. All tiktoks must return to the Clock of the Time Dragon periodically to have their clockwork serviced. Otherwise they lose the ability to function. Destroy the Clock of the Time Dragon, and you destroy the tiktoks."

"But it's inside the Emerald Palace!" protested Nor. "That place is a fortress!"

"Every fortress has a weakness," said Yackle idly. She turned to Boq. "Ask your green friend when she gets back. Mother Yackle has a feeling that she will be eager to help you defeat the machines. She may just have the skills to do it, too."

Boq's eyes lit up.

"She will return then?" he asked anxiously.

Yackle grinned maniacally. Her eyes seemed to flash for a moment under the hood.

"Oh yes. She will return safely. Mother Yackle will see to it."

And then she was gone.

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Review please!


	35. Chapter 34

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Chapter 34

On the fourth day of Elphaba and Liir's journey back to the Emerald City it began to snow. It started around midmorning, coming down in beautiful, pristine powdery white showers, making the ground beneath their feet squeak and crunch with the sound of pulverized ice chips, and alighting on their shoulders and hair.

Elphaba drew her cloak wearily up over her head and mentally cursed the stuff. Though the snow was not yet wet enough to cause her a serious problem it did provide an effective reminder that Lurlinemas Eve was again drawing near. She had never been able to see the joy in a religious feast. Even as a small child, she had spent Lurlinemas watching members of Frex's blindly faithful flock lavish attention of Nessarose and stare, almost fearfully, at her, the little green dragon girl, as though waiting for her to act on their resentment, to curse them somehow.

_No, _thought Elphaba ruefully, _If only I could. I only curse those that I love._

As she had grown older Lurlinemas had metamorphosed into a time of bad memories and remembered tragedy.

"Hello?" said Liir, giving her an odd look, and Elphaba realized suddenly that she'd stopped walking.

The boy had been, like much of the world, treating her cautiously for the past several days. He tried to conceal it, certainly, but there were still times when Elphaba caught him watching her out of the corner of her eye, looking as though he was afraid she might explode, or shatter into a thousand pieces, or simply go up in a puff of smoke. She couldn't really blame him considering. Still, it was another irritation on top of everything.

"Yes, yes, let's go," said Elphaba briskly, and resumed walking with a vigor she didn't really feel. Perhaps if they journeyed fast enough, she thought, she could flee her grief and leave it behind, trapped and rotting like everything else in the Quadling marshes. Hard to believe now that the place had ever been the least bit habitable. That she had lived there as a child. Hard to believe now that she had ever been a child. Hard to believe now that she had ever been the least bit happy.

"No," said Liir, "w-wait," stuttering as though speaking to Elphaba was a frightening experience.

Indeed, it probably was, she thought sourly.

"What, boy?"

Liir scowled at Elphaba as though about to say something particularly caustic, but then thought better of it.

"There's-there's a cave over there; it looks abandoned. I just thought y-you might want to stop and rest for the n-night."

Elphaba looked where Liir was pointing. The boy was right. A few feet away there was an opening to a large cave, almost completely obscured by bushes. Although it was only early evening, the wind was picking up and inky black clouds were beginning to cover up the sun. The snow was getting worse as little gusts hurled it at them. It stung Elphaba's face like a thousand tiny darts. Nature's army showing her it was displeased. Elphaba nodded to the boy. Though she knew she would not sleep, it would be good at least to get out of the damp for a while. And she knew Liir must be tired. They had been traveling well into the night the previous few days. To his credit, the boy had not yet complained. Probably too frightened to do so, thought Elphaba.

"All right, boy, pick up the driest branches you can find on your way in. We might as well try for a fire."

Liir scurried over to the edge of the road where the trees began to grow and started gathering up downed branches. Most of them still had leaves on them. Drenched leaves.

"Stop, stop," groaned Elphaba. "You're doing it all wrong."

Liir looked up at her with big dark eyes, dangerously close to tears.

"I-I'm only t-trying to h-help!" he stammered.

Elphaba felt at once sorry and disgusted with him. She went over to where he was stooped over, her boots making wet clomping noises in the snow, and grabbed the wet branches out of his hands, biting her lip to stifle a cry as the water seared her skin. It almost felt good.

"D-don't do that!" cried Liir, evidently noticing the angry red blotches that had appeared on Elphaba's hands. He grabbed the branches back from her and held them a safe distance away. His eyes flashed with defiance.

Elphaba glared at him.

"I asked you for help to begin with. You did not provide it. Do not interfere with me. I will do whatever the hell I please."

Liir's chin jutted out rebelliously.

"N-no you w-won't! N-not if it'll h-hurt you!"

Elphaba's temper ignited.

"I will never understand you, boy," she said icily. She could never summon the hot anger of her youth anymore, no matter how hard she tried. "How you can be so utterly unlike your father."

But as the words left her lips it struck her how wrong she was. Perhaps that was what bothered her so about him. In his warped adolescent way, he was doing exactly what Fiyero would have done under the circumstances. She carefully wrapped her hands in the edge of her cloak and took the branches back from Liir, feeling guilty.

"It's all right, no one's ever taught you, that's all."

Liir looked utterly perplexed at her sudden mood change. Elphaba proceeded to strip the leaves and twigs off the branches, clawing at the bark through the fabric of her cloak in hopes of getting through to the dry center of the wood. But though it had only been snowing for a few hours, the branches were already thoroughly drenched. Elphaba threw the soaked wood to the ground and wished fervently that she'd thought to bring the Grimmerie with her. Glinda still had it, wherever she was at the moment, and it would do her no good, for she knew most of the spells by heart already.

"I'm sorry, Liir," said Elphaba resignedly. "There will be no fire tonight."

The boy's face fell, but he nodded obediently and followed her into the cave. The inside was cold but dry, and relatively shallow so they could be sure it didn't have other occupants. It was almost as though it had been put there on purpose, thought Elphaba suspiciously. She and Liir stood looking awkwardly at one another for a few moments, then the boy took the pack off his back and curled up in a corner. He was dozing almost instantly. Elphaba envied him his ability to sleep so easily despite everything. She had always been a natural insomniac, and now...

When she was sure the boy was asleep, Elphaba knelt down in a corner and took the supply pack she was carrying off her own shoulders. She rummaged around in it, blindly, for a few moments before pulling out a small pocket knife. She unsheathed the blade and stared at it. Even in the darkness, it seemed somehow to shimmer, to glow, and she wondered for a moment if it might be a magic blade. She rolled the sleeves of her cloak up to her elbows and examined the burns left by the wet leaves on her hands. They were red and angry. There had been a time when she would have worried about infection. Now she just stared at the wounds in utter fascination. They were beautiful in a ghastly sort of way. She turned her palm up and examined her wrist, the way the bones of her arm tapered a little before flaring out into her long hand.

Elphaba took the little knife and pressed the tip against the skin of her wrist. It glittered still, silver on emerald, precious metal and gemstone. A single drop of blood appeared at the place where the point of the blade met her skin. She watched it, fascinated, as it rolled down her arm, leaving a red line of inflammation in its path. She was tempted to plunge the knife deeper, to taste the sweet pain of release, but just then in the corner of the room Liir turned in his sleep, whimpering in some frightful dream.

Elphaba shook herself, pulled the knife back, replaced the sheath and pulled her cloak back down to her fingertips, concealing the small wound. She was not finished, certainly not, but she could not stand the thought of more guilt, of another death on her conscience. Suddenly it became paramount that she see the boy back safely. After all, he was all she had left.

But after they were back...when Liir was once again in the hands of the Resistance...Elphaba held the knife up in front of her face and stared at it.

It was beautiful.

It was her only hope.

She felt a sudden surge of love for the little weapon.

* * *

::cackles:: Yeah...this one scared me. Review if you love me! (and this fic...)


	36. Chapter 35

Author's Note: Once again there is a major hurricane heading for me. Please, please, please send it go-away-turn-to-the-north vibes! I don't think I can take another week without power…At least there are no trees left to fall on my house. Yeah. Anywho. I'm posting now, and hopefully I'll have another chance to update before this weekend, but just in case I don't, if I suddenly go silent it's cuz I'm without power.

Lindsay: yeah, I've been there too…that's why it scared me so much after I wrote it. Not to mention this one.

WARNING: This chapter gets quite a bit graphic toward the end. If you're really really squeamish, consider yourself warned.

* * *

Chapter 35 

Eleven days after Yackle's visit, there was another knock at the door of the Resistance headquarters. Boq, who had been dozing with his back to the wall in the main hall jumped awake at the sound of the knock, nearly hitting his head on a nearby bench. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he had a feeling of excitement as he got to his feet and went to answer the door.

"Glinda!" cried Boq, for she was also asleep near the fire as it was too cold to sleep elsewhere in the building. She didn't stir, so he went over to her and took hold of her shoulders, shaking her gently. She mumbled something about Saffron Cream in her sleep and turned over. "Wake up!" shouted Boq. The knocking was getting louder. Glinda woke with a start and clawed Boq in the face. He jumped away and she fell off the bench she had been lying on.

"What?" she snapped, attempting to smooth her skirts which were now worn and soiled beyond repair.

"There's someone at the door."

Glinda looked lost.

"I don't see what…oh!" Glinda grabbed Boq's hand and dragged him toward the door, suddenly realizing what he meant.

They stopped behind the old wooden door, hesitating for a moment, looking at one another. They didn't really have the authority to let anyone in, for there was always the risk that they could be discovered and the person on the other side of the door was an enemy. But Nor was busy debriefing one of the other scouting teams that had just returned, and Boq was not eager to let whoever it was stand outside and vulnerable while he went to fetch her. Neither of them was tall enough to look out the peephole in the door.

"Do you think…?" said Boq uncertainly.

Glinda shrugged, but she looked just as eager as he felt.

"I'm going to do it," he said finally, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.

Glinda nodded.

"All right, do it."

Boq tried to pull up the large board that served as a bolt on the door, but it was too heavy for him. Luckily, Glinda came to his assistance and together they managed to move the huge thing. In the dingy outer room stood a wet and bedraggled looking Liir, and Elphaba, who had her cloak pulled up all the way over her head so that it was nearly impossible to make out her face. Boq's heart sank at the sight of them.

"What—" he started to ask, but Glinda interrupted.

"Come in, come in, you must be freezing, I had no idea it had gotten that cold out there!" Her voice took on the perky high-pitched tone Boq recognized as cleverly concealed panic.

Elphaba pushed past them without a word and disappeared down the stairs into the tunnels below. Boq stared after her for a moment, then turned to Liir. With a sick fascination he realized that he wanted to ask the boy what had happened, though he was nearly certain that he already knew. Glinda gave Boq a look that told him to keep silent, then she, too turned to Liir.

The boy stood staring at her for a moment, then stumbled to Glinda and buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *

Elphaba slammed the door of her room behind her, glad at least that it had been left untouched and not given to some other renegade traveler who happened to appear in her absence. She went over to the bed and sat down, shucking her wet cloak to the floor. She looked around for a moment, almost as if subconsciously trying to find something to distract her from her task. 

The room was completely bare.

Elphaba pulled the knife from the top of her boot and laid back on the bed, slowly, laboriously examining the skin of her inner forearms. She could almost see the blood pulsing through her veins, but then maybe she was becoming delusional. It was almost as if her skin had suddenly become thinner.

_Stop stalling,_ she told herself sternly. _This is what you've wanted for the past sixteen years. Cut vertically, along the vein. It goes faster that way. _

It wasn't the pain she was afraid of, not really. Nothing could be more torturous than the emotional pain she was already afflicted with. Still, what if there was no release?

Images of the Wizard being spat upon the banks of the mystical sea came up from the depths of her memory, fragments of a long forgotten dream. Elphaba shuddered.

She held her right hand up over her head and pressed the knife blade against the skin of her wrist with her left. This would be the easy part. Slowly, precisely, she pulled the blade down toward her elbow, watching the line of red boil up and over on her arm until the blood was dripping, spattering onto the graying bed sheets and her legs were sticky with it. Then she reversed hands and repeated the process, satisfaction filling her for the first time in weeks.

Elphaba rolled onto her side and curled up in a little ball of raging emotions. She closed her eyes, giving herself to the darkness, her heart swelling with hope for what seemed like the first time.

_"Not so fast, Dearie, not so easy as all that," came the familiar old voice._

_Elphaba jumped, her eyes snapping open. Her entire body was on fire, throbbing, pulsing with all-consuming pain. She was lying down, but no longer on the bed in the abandoned flower shop._

_"Wh—" but she broke off as her gag reflex kicked in and she wretched onto the floor as she suddenly realized where she was. She was on a bed, her bed, in the room above the corn exchange. And the blood she was covered in was not her own. It was Fiyero's. _

_Yackle laughed maniacally. She was standing directly under the shattered skylight, the full moon beaming down on her, giving her a ghostly glow._

_Elphaba forced herself into a sitting position and coughed, choking on bile. _

_"Stop!__ STOP! Why are you doing this to me? All I want is for all of this to go away!"_

_"That, my pet, is the problem," crooned Yackle. "A body cannot die unless the soul is first released. Mother Yackle has taken your soul."_

_"Let me die!" begged Elphaba, tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't feel them. The pain was already too great._

_Yackle grinned._

_"Not yet, my poppet.__ When you have earned your time, then, then you may rest."_

_Yackle raised her hands in a dismissive flourish and Elphaba was knocked back onto the bed with the force of a blow._

She woke drenched in a painful cold sweat. All was quiet outside the door to the little room, so it must be late at night.

Elphaba sat up in bed and examined her wrists.

The emerald skin was utterly untouched.

The knife was gone.

* * *

Review please! 


	37. Chapter 36

Author's Note: Okay well I came through this hurricane okay, but now I might be getting a THIRD one THIS weekend. ::screams:: So once again…send it go away vibes. And if you don't hear from me…you know why. One chapter and an epilogue left after this.

* * *

Chapter 36

It took four days for Boq and Glinda to coax Elphaba out of her room. Nearly every hour one of them made a trip to her door with food, sometimes accompanied by Liir, Nor, and on occasion even Chistery. Nothing budged her. She seemed determined to starve to death. It wasn't until Boq thought to tell her of Yackle's visit that she would even open the door.

"What?" she snapped at Boq, flinging the door open in his face. She was irritated at the intrusion on her grief and yet curious at the same time. Anything having to do with Yackle interested her at the moment. Over the past few days she had racked her brain as to what Yackle might mean, might be keeping her waiting for. Perhaps Boq had the answer. "Tell me what Yackle said!"

Elphaba grabbed Boq by the shoulders and dragged him into her room, closing the door behind her. It was dark in the room and she could not see his face, but Boq flinched visibly and for a moment Elphaba registered the fact that he was afraid of her, but she was beyond caring. Far beyond caring.

"W-wait!" he stammered, and wrenched himself out of her grasp.

Elphaba cursed loudly.

"Where are you going?" she shrieked as he stumbled out the door.

"I'll be back!"

Elphaba sat on the edge of the bed and held her head in her hands, digging her fingernails into the skin at her temples. It stung a little, but she could barely feel it over the blinding, throbbing pain in her skull. It was as if all the hurt she had ever caused was now somehow trapped inside her body and was coming back to punish her for years of mistakes and misfortune.

"Stop it," she growled to nothing in particular. "Stopitstopitstopit!"

There was a slight grinding noise as someone reopened the door, and Elphaba managed to look up just in time to see Nor entering, Boq trailing behind her like an injured puppy. So he'd brought backup. Elphaba sat up a little straighter and took a deep breath. She knew they would not talk to her if they thought she was insane. They would only trouble her more. She had to somehow reassemble her shell at least outwardly, or they would sense that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"Yackle," said Elphaba, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. "Tell me about Yackle."

Somehow Elphaba could sense Nor's inquisitive look even in the darkness.

"May I sit down?" asked the girl, apparently unfazed by Elphaba's rage.

"Sit, sit," snapped Elphaba. "Sit if you have to. Talk while you do it."

Nor took her time finding her way over to the bed in the dark and sitting down on the edge. Elphaba got up and paced to the other side of the room, not wanting to be too close to either of them.

"Yackle appeared here about…three weeks ago now," said Boq warily. "She was here under the pretense that she could tell people their fortunes."

"Pretense?" said Elphaba, and laughed harshly.

Boq cleared his throat.

"Go on."

"I-I asked her about…about…"

"Your family," said Elphaba.

"How did you—"

"Oh as if it wasn't obvious!" cried Elphaba, then felt bad for being so harsh with him. "Go on."

"She told me that they—nevermind. You don't need to know." Boq's voice was getting louder. He was becoming surer of himself. "The Nor asked Yackle how to defeat the tiktoks. Yackle told her that they need the Clock of the Time Dragon to service their clockwork. If we destroy it, they'll all eventually cease to function. Die."

"If it was three weeks ago why haven't you done it yet?" snapped Elphaba.

"Because we don't know how," said Nor, speaking for the first time. "When I asked Yackle how to get into the Emerald Palace, she said to ask you. She said she'd make sure you got back safely just for that."

Elphaba inhaled sharply. Of course. If Yackle wanted her to redeem herself, what more impossible way could she choose? Absently, she ran a hand through her hair, catching a snarled strand of it around her long fingers and began twirling it. It was a nervous habit she hadn't had since she was schoolgirl at Shiz.

"The Tin Woodman," she said suddenly. "What ever happened to the Tin Woodman?"

"He's secured himself a position on the tiktok security force," said Nor. "He can't get away very often, but they trust him enough to leave him in charge of guarding the Emerald Palace. Very convenient for us. And very precarious."

"It's perfect," murmured Elphaba, excitement running through her.

"What is?" asked Boq.

"We bomb the Emerald Palace. Destroy the Clock of the Time Dragon and as many of those damned tiktoks as we can."

Nor stood up excitedly.

"Lurlinemas Eve," she said breathlessly.

"What?" asked Elphaba.

"It's in a week. It's perfect. The Tin Woodman can place the bomb, and then we go in and detonate it."

"How do we get materials?" asked Boq dejectedly.

"We have sources," said Nor confidently. "And the Tin Woodman can help with that as well. I'm sure our Wonderful Wizard left some things behind when he left. From what I've heard, the tiktoks haven't done much in the way of cleanup of the palace."

"Are we agreed?" asked Elphaba, suddenly eager to get the others out of her room. Her head was pounding again, so hard she could barely hear.

"Yes," said Nor. "I'll alert the others."

The girl got up and made her way to the door, then stopped. The door was part way open and the hall light bled in, burning Elphaba's eyes. She shuddered.

"One more thing," said Nor.

"What?" snapped Elphaba for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Are you willing to help in this operation?"

"Yes!" said Elphaba, louder than she'd meant to. Boq hurried out into the hall, looking nervously over his shoulder at Elphaba and Nor. "I'll do whatever it takes."

As Nor let the door close behind her, Elphaba walked back over to the bed and collapsed on it.

"Whatever it takes to be free," she murmured thickly just before falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

Review please!


	38. Chapter 37

Author's Note: There's just a short epilogue left after this. I'm in total shock. Yeah...umm...that's really all I have to say. Don't kill me yet please...you need me alive to post the epilogue.

* * *

Chapter 37

It took nearly a week of preparation to assemble the materials necessary for the bomb; many of them were smuggled out of the Emerald Palace itself by the Tin Woodman on one of his supposed patrols for the tiktoks. His post with their security force helped greatly in the problem of the placement of the bomb as well, though Nor designated herself as the one to actually activate it, as she was much quicker and more experienced in methods of escape. Even Igitur pitched in, hobbling around the bomb in circles, chanting in some unknown language, claiming that he was blessing it. Finally, as a last boost of their chances, Elphaba used the Grimmerie to set an energy increasing spell on it.

The morning of Lurlinemas Eve dawned crisp, cold, and perfectly blue. Elphaba, who no longer cared if she was caught, and indeed might have preferred it if she was, climbed the spiral staircase out of the Resistance tunnels and stood in the doorway of the rotting flower shop. The perfect clarity of the sky offended her, the festive crispness of the air made her sick. Somehow the event which she viewed as the end of her purpose in life would have felt more appropriate if the weather was gray, or even dark and stormy. A light breeze blew and Elphaba shuddered. She wore only a threadbare black frock, her long hair loose and tangled around her shoulders. She had not eaten in nearly a week and a half and she was certain that she was being kept alive only by the power of Yackle's cruel magic.

"Why?" she whispered to the perfect blue sky and the powdery blue morning. "Why must I live? What is it that I'm meant to do?"

Funny, she thought, all my life I've been a failure.

For years she'd fought a losing battle to stay alive, now she couldn't end it.

Unable to bear the sight of the beautiful blue sky anymore, Elphaba studied the decaying skyline of the city that had once been the treasure of Oz. A few blocks away she could barely make out the looming shape of her old loft above the abandoned corn exchange. She had a sudden longing to go there, to subject herself to that torture. Even pain would feel better than this bleak white numbness, she decided. But she was too tired suddenly, much too tired, barely even able to stand up, and she held onto the door frame, leaning heavily on it, inhaling the pungent scent of decaying wood. The snow was sticking, covering up the older, brownish layers with fresh white and partially obscuring the buildings almost as if nature was trying to efface the damage humanity had done upon it.

The sound of movement behind her made her jump. Elphaba turned around to see Nor standing behind her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it," said the girl, looking not at the sky but at the city.

Elphaba shrugged noncommittally. Nor sighed and for a moment it seemed as if she wanted to say something, but then she changed her mind.

"Do you still believe in magic?" Elphaba asked suddenly.

Nor looked taken aback.

"Well, it's a proven fact, isn't it? I mean your book—"

Elphaba waved her silent impatiently.

"No, no, not that kind of magic. Not the textbook magic that can be read off a page to giggling teenage girls by some graying moron fifty years past her prime. The kind of magic that babies see everywhere in the world, the kind that gets lost as you get older and the world hardens you. The kind that let you fly my old broom."

Now's eyes went wide as though she was seeing something far away, something she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Oh. Oh, I don't know about that. Seeing all this evil in the world, it-it makes it hard to believe. Maybe if we're successful tonight, maybe then—I don't know what then."

Elphaba nodded. She knew there was no plan beyond the bombing, no plan for a new government or a new civilization. She had not cared that there was not a plan, because she would not be part of it. Perhaps if she helped them succeed, perhaps then Yackle would finally let her go.

"We should get back inside," said Elphaba suddenly, purely as an excuse to stop talking to the girl. She was exhausted. She would go back to her room and sleep until dusk. Then the operation would begin.

* * *

The temperature had dropped still more by the time the Resistance gathered in the shadows out in front of the flower shop. The Tin Woodman had reported back that afternoon saying that he had successfully placed the bomb. Elphaba, Nor, and Glinda were going to perform the actual detonation. Nor was to go into the building by a back door while the others stood guard. 

They arrived at the large building just after dark, slipping in a back servant entry with a set of keys the Tin Woodman had procured. Elphaba and Glinda took posts on either side of the door and nodded for Nor to go in. As the girl disappeared inside, Elphaba leaned back against the wall and wondered what good they could actually do were there to be a problem.

"Elphie?" said Glinda hesitantly.

"Shh," hissed Elphaba, more fiercely than she'd meant to. Glinda looked as thought she'd just been slapped. Elphaba immediately felt guilty.

There must be something in the air, she thought, some hint of magic left over from a world of long ago, or perhaps from some future world about to come into being, for she was feeling everything more acutely than usual. There was a sense of anticipation in the cold, dry air, as thought the entire world was just waiting for some secret signal.

"I didn't mean don't talk to me," whispered Elphaba after a moment. "Just don't talk so loud."

Glinda nodded tentatively, but remained silent. Elphaba glanced sideways at her. Glinda was shifting and fidgeting anxiously and it suddenly occurred to Elphaba how strange this all must seem to her. She was used to being in control of things. That was one thing they'd always had in common, thought Elphaba a little sadly.

"What were you going to say?" prompted Elphaba gently.

Glinda shook her head, her blonde locks brushing her shoulders and making a slight rustling noise against the torn silk of her cloak.

"Nothing. It's just…you never talk to me anymore. I hardly know who you are. I always just assumed that this would all end and we'd go back to being friends like we were before but lately—lately I've been realizing that maybe—"

"Maybe it won't," Elphaba finished for her. She nodded. "I-I don't think…it's not possible to relive the past. Even magic can't do that. So no, no, things won't go back to the way they were before."

Glinda nodded again, slowly this time, her eyes distant. A wave of guilt washed over Elphaba. She hadn't thought of how the others would react. It had never occurred to her that anyone card. But no, no, that wasn't right, she amended. She had always known that they cared. That was what she had always feared the most. She was being selfish again.

"I'm sorry, Glinda," murmured Elphaba, though she wasn't sure why.

Glinda gave her a questioning look, but Elphaba never got the chance to answer. Nor came sprinting back out the door, eyes wild, gasping for breath.

"What?" snapped Elphaba, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I-I know why Yackle—she said—a question of morals—"

Elphaba grabbed Nor's shoulders and shook her roughly.

"What is it, girl? Tell me! Did you set the bomb?"

Nor nodded, her shoulders heaving.

"On the way out I saw-I saw—there are prisoners in there! Hundreds of them!"

"Damn," Elphaba breathed. "How much time?"

"Five minutes. It's not enough."

"It'll have to be," said Elphaba resolutely, and opened the door.

"Elphie, no!" Glinda screamed behind her, but Elphaba had no time to listen. She could not fail this now.

"It's suicide!" Glinda shouted.

Elphaba began to run.

It was dark and clammy inside the palace, not like before. This was almost like being in a crypt. Elphaba stumbled blindly forward oblivious to everything but her goal. She knew somehow instinctively where she was going. The Grand Throne Room.

And suddenly there it was. She could barely see through the little Gatekeeper's peephole. There were hundreds of people, many of them children, huddled together inside the room. The door was locked. Elphaba paused for a moment, then placed her hands on the handle and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating all her thoughts on her one objective. If only this time…it would make up for so much…this time she _could not fail_…

The lock popped open and the door swung out on its hinges.

Elphaba plunged into the room, pushing people out.

"This building is bombed," she shouted, "Get out while you can! Get out, get out, _get__ out!_"

She pushed through to the back wall and sat down on what had once been the Wizard's Throne.

All around her feet were shuffling, people were crying out. It was a glorious commotion of life and faith and fear.

And then the blinding white light.

* * *

Review please! Guys I know this sounds dumb but I REALLY want to break four hundred reviews. Could you maybe pretty please help me out? 


	39. Epilogue

Epilogue

It wasn't pain, really, not the kind that she had known in life, at least. It was a sensation she couldn't quite name, a tearing from inside, grief and euphoria and unbearable sweetness all mixed into one as years of numbness suddenly melted away. When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer inside the palace, but standing on a beach. It was dawn and the sun was rising, a ruby fireball over crystal blue water stretching all the way to the horizon. This must be an ocean, she supposed, though she had never seen one, for there were no oceans in Oz. A hand on her shoulder made her jump a little, but the fear didn't last long in the air of safety that seemed to blow off the water with every breeze.

"Fae?"

She turned slowly, willing herself to remain calm. Fiyero was standing behind her, strong and sure and beautiful as ever. She turned toward him and he took her by the shoulders. She flinched slightly at his touch, surprised by the warmth of his hands.

"Fiyero…how?" Elphaba trailed off and shrugged, torn. She wanted desperately to believe it, and yet if she did it would go against everything she'd ever believed in life.

"Nevermind," he whispered, his breath warm on her cheek, "You'll see soon enough."

She nodded, then turned back toward the water. The sun was higher now, turning the sky a light purple, shot through with veins of pink and orange.

"It's beautiful."

Fiyero walked over and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"It's a new beginning."

Elphaba wrenched out of his grasp and turned back to face him.

"Is it? For them? Will things be all right now?"

Fiyero shook his head and pulled her back against him.

"No one can say."

"So then-then it was all a waste?" she asked, refusing to believe her own words.

"I didn't say that. Things will be different now, that's the sure thing. Whether it's for the better…no one can say for a long time...perhaps never."

Elphaba sighed, then nodded slowly. Fiyero leaned in and kissed her, and suddenly the reality of it all came crashing down around her. He was dead, had been for months and yet he was here again, real as ever. And the others…they were lost to her, at least for the moment. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder, giving in to the tears she'd been fighting for most of her life. Fiyero ran his hands over her back in slow circles but didn't say anything. The tears subsided after a few minutes, and she realized with a slight shock that it hadn't hurt. Fiyero kissed her again, then took her hand and led her toward the water.

"It's time."

Elphaba nodded, surprised to find that she was no longer afraid.

As the water lapped gently around their ankles, the sun reached its full height overhead, turning the sky a perfect, clear blue like a huge mirror reflecting the water. Fiyero met her gaze and smiled.

"Elphie…it's here. Forever is here."

* * *

Author's Note: Okay I'm in total shock now. It's really, really over.

I know a lot of you are going to be upset about the fact that I didn't give you a more complete ending, but it just didn't feel appropriate for this story. I'm leaving it up to you to decide what happened. So make this ending what you want.

Thanks for everything, all of you. One last review please?


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